Timing with a vacuum gauge

perko said

Hi all,
I've been trying to time my 318 after I put on a new carb and intake but I think that the balancer has slipped or something because I can't even see the timing mark with my gun.

I've seen some information about timing an engine with a vacuum gauge on the internet so I gave it a try. I adjusted the distributor to max vacuum (about 22) and then brought it back a little to about 20-21.

My question is have i done this correctly? Is this an accurate enough way to time the engine that i can move on to tuning the carb and stuff? Or do i need to find another way to make sure I get this right? Thanks!

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That probably got you pretty close to the mark, it's basically how you would tune the initial timing anyway even with a light. However you really need to know what the advance is as the RPMs go up, most stock distributors have mechanical advance designed to work with only a few degrees initial advance so when you crank up the initial for better efficiency the total advance goes too high.

Next course of action should be locating TDC on cylinder #1, there are multiple ways to do this just do a search on the forum. Then you will know how much the balancer has slipped, which you should probably get a new one of sooner than later anyway.