compression test question

nm9stheham said
Is this a 225, 198, or 170 ci /6? I think I would try another compression gauge first; 194 seems awfully high for the mods you have done. The pistons are still in the hole a good bit with .050" off the block for a 225. If need be, you could put in a thicker head gasket. Which one did you use in the rebuild?

The ignition timing thing looks to me to be that the distributor is off a tooth, or you need to monkey with the timing adjustment on the bottom side of the distributor body. You should be able to set it anywhere you please.

I'd be putting in some 93 octane to see if the clatter goes away, and stick with
that until you get things sorted out better.

What carb do you have? Do you know the year model of the carb? And under what conditions do you have the pinging?

He said: "pistons are +.030,too"

9 makes a good point about proving the gauge.
And I have to concur, cuz my 225 was built about the same but at Zero-deck(says the builder;I never checked), and mine was only pushing 160psi,dry, with a "HP" cam .No spec available.I had the machine-shop assemble this unit, and it's never been further apart than for checking the cam degree-in.It seemed lazy to me, but was right on.And I solved the problem with plenty of initial timing.

But really, the WOT clatter with such a small amount of timing, kindof says it all. Mine runs 87E10 with full timing.