what is the factory setting and what does everyone suggest? its a totally stock 5.7 tpi. also, i get SES light and its really hard to start unless i play with the timing that clears up but i do not know where it SHOULD be. thank you

The factory base timing is 6 degrees. Make sure you disconnect the 'Set Timing Connector' when setting the base timing.

Some people advance the base timing to 8 degrees, but it's questionable whether there is an advantage to this or not...

Advancing the timing can introduce knock. When the knock sensor detects this, it will retard the timing to compensate and you're back to square one. You really need a scan tool to read the knock counts to see if advancing the base timing over degrees is doing anything.