Allright, when I first got my Mallory distributor, I left it alone. Well after about a week it was running pretty good, but I pulled the cap off, and switched springs. I went from the stock springs on the weights to the ones that didn't fully advance until about 2,600 or so.

I've left it alone till now, and I'd like to change it again. I was wondering, is there any advantage to having a car hit full advance sooner? Or any advantage to having it hit later on?

The springs I'm using now are silver ones that begin advancing at 800 and are fully advanced by 2,600. I also have black ones that fully advance by about 1,500 and gold ones that fully advnace by a little after 4,000. Of course I can always mix and match too. How do I know when my timing curve is actually where it should be, or what should I look for when I'm tuning it?

-Thanks, Brandon

 

To make the best power the advance should come in as soon as is possible to do without pinging.

 

Okay, so should I keep my timing at a set number then and then play with the springs? Right now I'm running about 37* of total timing according to my timing light. Right now it doesn't ping at all anywhere in the RPM range. Should I just leave it there, throw the stiffest springs in, and then if it pings slowly go from there mixing and matching?

By the way, thanks for your help in the carburetor thread, the car is running pretty good right now that I unhooked the choke, I still gotta play with that a little, but I don't wanna get off topic right now.

-Brandon

 

Right, keep the total timing the same (around 34-36 degrees usually) trying lighter spring combinations until you find the lightest one that works without pinging.

 

Allright thanks, hopefully once it warms up a little I can give that try.

-Brandon