You're correct on being detonation prone on pump gas, and yes it could probably do with a bigger cam but that's the one that I had in there when it was a 318 and I was led to believe it would work ok with the stroker...which it does, but it's a bit small. The custom pistons have a small quench pad in them.
It runs great but if I put too much timing into it it pings. I'm at about 13° initial, 34 all in. If I add any more initial it pings. I've now switched to Manifold Vac Adv and put a limiter in the distributor on the vac adv mechanism as that was making the detonation worse.
I will consider a bigger cam, or maybe lowering the compression a bit with thicker head gaskets(?). I know when I do add in a bit more timing the engine seems to like it - aside from the detonation obviously. I was wondering whether I'd be better of at say 9.5:1 with a lot more timing, as when I've had the car at say 18° initial and tried it on my local "test" area it feels about 50hp more powerful instantly.
But this is all just thinking and considering options. The car runs absolutely great as is, no bad manners at all, has plenty of power and sounds good. But we're never happy of course - human nature, always looking to improve.
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