Hi,

I'm having cooling temperature troubles for quite a long time now, situation is as follows:

1. 89' 305 TPI .060 overbored (from a pre. owner, not my idea, may contribute to the issue too...)
2. Engine runs great and passes emissions (did a refresh recently, had quite a few small vacuum leaks, my new bosch injectors were leaking etc etc)
3. Replaced original Radiator with a three row aluminium version with two fans and a shroud (fans are always on at around 180°)
4. Got a new highflow Waterpump a few years ago
5. Air dam below the radiator is present (not the side ones though which I see in some pictures)

Temperature was always creeping up to around 230 degrees even with the heater on

Today I checked the timing myself and lo and behold it was at around 2 degrees btc (est disconnected) --> changed it to 6-8 btc (it's really hard to read the markings correct)
Now it takes waaaay longer for the temperature to go up and the car stays between 215 - 228 (never more) which is still on the high side for my liking...

Could it be that 8 btc is too far off from the 6 btc where it should be? Or would it help my engine temp if I went down even a little bit further like 10 btc?? (since the difference between 2 and 6/8 was so big)

 

Yes the ignition timing can have a dramatic effect on running temp. As you've observed, advancing it (within its "reasonable" range) lowers engine temp.

This is one of the reasons why adhering to "spec" in "book" doesn't always produce optimum results, and why TUNING in general is such a big deal. Yes of course you can try twiddling it some more. However you feel like it. Obviously tweeeking the dist is a fairly blunt instrument; but if it's what you've got available to you, USE IT.

For the most part you can advance it until it starts to ping, then back it off until it quits. For some cars (not many) that'll be "optimum". But at the very least it'll tell you how far you can go before disaster strikes. As long as you stay way from that, you can pretty much do whatever you want, to get the combination of running characteristics that are important to YOU driving YOUR car where YOU drive it how YOU use it on the fuel YOU can buy. Such characteristics include but are not limited to: running temp, pinging, throttle response, idle & cruising vacuum, gas mileage, max power, and emissions.

 

I will play around with slightly more advance and hook up my aldl cable, just to be sure, should I see no knock count or what's a still acceptable value?