Pinging

69signetv8 said

In the past I have always had trouble timing the engine with a light and end up doing it by a vacume gauge and ear! If I use a light and try for a factory setting about 8/10* before the engine will die. I have a true TDC. When I use a vacume gauge and adjust the dist to get max vac she idles well and the performace seems good but pings bad. I've tried a few things as advancing or retarding the timing but she still pings. I use + gas 89 octine.

Although I've read other posts I'm not up on the "total" timing thing and not sure how to tweak outside from moving the dist back and forth!

Sould I start playing with the screw in the vacume can?? If so which way do I turn it and how much??

This is the stuff I hate:shaking:..Wish you were here!
Thanks

Click to expand...

Jimmy...with all the mods you have made to your engine, the factory settings are out-the-window now. You could just try backing the dist. up a little everytime you notice the engine pinging until it stops and leave the dist at that setting. Put a light on it to see where the new initial advance setting is ,and reset it to that number in the future.

I also agree with the quoted article...

" Carefully insert a 3/32" allen wrench into the fitting where the vaccum hose was connected to the vaccum advance canister. You will be able to feel the allen wrench go into an internal allen screw used to adjust the amount of advance provided by the canister. Be careful not to puncture the diaphram inside the canister. With the allen wrench plugged into the adjusting screw, turn the allen wrench 1/2 turn (180 degrees) clockwise to reduce the vaccum advance by approximately two to three degrees. Remove the allen wrench, reconnect the vaccum hose and rerun the part throttle test. Repeat this procedure until the detonation, surging and/or stumbling is eliminated. ""

This method will work if the previous method gets the initial advance too retarded for a decent idle.

Gimme a buzz if you want to get together and we can work on this.