benz junkie
Member
Where can I find good instructions for setting up base timing on a 318. Looking for distributor set, firing order, and timing specs.
318 BASE TIMING
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abodyjoe
Well-Known Member
Your service manual
abodyjoe
Well-Known Member
Rapid Robert
Well-Known Member
unless they do emissions testing in your area you have alot of leeway on what you can run for timing. 15 would be a quick ballpark initial figure & the FBO $22 plate is the best deal in town for limiting total (35 total-initial+slots) is a VG ballpark figure then plug the can into ported. firing order 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 clockwise. reluctor gap-.008" with brass feeler gauge. points .017". can toss the heavy spring & sub in a lighter one. If it ain't pinging from too much advance & not running hot from not enough advance (way retarded) & the starter ain't kicking back from too much inital (makes DCR too high) then you are OK but there is alot of power and mileage to be had from dialing it in spot on.
So then what about a 5.2 magnum carbed? Ive got a stock 5.2 i put an airgap intake on and a 1405 600 edelbrock carb. I set initial at 15 and it ran like crap, i advanced it until it ran the best i ended up with 42 degrees initial! I have no idea. I Checked TDC (pulled number one plug and looked by eye and could see the piston at the top and measured also with a dowel).and the mark was correct it seems. plugged vaccum advance. I played with the idle screws on carb until it was pretty smooth. About 1.75 turns out. Is this a symptom of a jumped timing chain? Ill be tuning it alot this weekend any advice would be great. Thanks y'all! I really dont know what else to do but try another timing light. Ive Googled the crap out of this and havent come up with much other than confirming TDC and making sure timing light is good.
Find a service manual for that 5.2
Consider that the baseline initial and timing curve.
Then measure what is on the engine.
make one adjustment at a time from there.
For a factory engine, the factory timing is going to be darn close.
When the combustion chamber, compression, valve events (camshaft) are altered, those are things that effect timing.
It's all about development of the flame front and the time it takes.
The goal is maximum leverage on the crank.
More here
Consider that the baseline initial and timing curve.
Then measure what is on the engine.
make one adjustment at a time from there.
For a factory engine, the factory timing is going to be darn close.
When the combustion chamber, compression, valve events (camshaft) are altered, those are things that effect timing.
It's all about development of the flame front and the time it takes.
The goal is maximum leverage on the crank.
More here
After a little tinkering i found a vaccum leak which promoted a lean condition, hence all that initial timing. A great read of that article by the way.
So adjusted my idle mixture screws some more and idle speed. Set my initial at 15 barely running and tuned it from there. I richened up my idle mixture and some idle speed and it got alot better. It runs now without dying. After reading that article i decided that maybe it was running too lean and that was why it liked more timing. So i suppose for anyone who reads this in the future, if it likes alot of initial timing like 40 degrees, maybe it is a lean condition. Thank you Mattax for that article.
Thanks alpha, I found this thread because I'm experiencing a similar issue. I'm gonna get out there today and see what changes I can make. Also, when I set my timing, I forgot to remove and plug the vacuum advance hose...DOH!! I think I gonna need to start from scratch and go from there.
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