Fine Tuning Question

Shane,

No disagreement to anything in this thread - but an additional thought.

I thing there are two different issues that are being discussed: initial timing (your thought of hard starting) and best total mechanical timing (performance).

A dyno would probably be the best way to fine the best total timing, but I like your approach... and it is a lot more fun that a dyno.

But..., after finding the best timing for performance, should you find that the car is hard starting I suggest not backing off the total but rather (if your distributor permits it) add more timing in the distributor.

Lets assume that your distributor has 16 degrees of timing in it and for example, you find the best performance is at 36 degrees..... but the car is hard starting. 36 minus the 16 in the distributor = 20 at start.. probably a bit much. Put 22 in the distributor (instead of 16) and it would drop the initial start to a more livable number 14.

I admit it depends what distributor you are running and if it is adjustable... but you can have your cake and eat it too!

Kory