Ok, so I am stumped. My teacher is baffled and my friends are confused.
I recently got my freshly built motor running. It has all new parts. It is a 388 NON COMPUTER controlled Distributor with a BG Speed Demon 750 Carb. The Distributor is a MSD and it is the coil IN cap design. I also have a MSD 6a box hooked up correctly. I cannot think of any more info you might need.

MY PROBLEM: When setting base timing I set it to 18* at 1000 RPM because that is what the motor is at when not in gear. When reved up to above 3000RPMS it goes up to about 30* which isnt enough for me but that is a problem with the curve according to weights and springs. MY PROBELM is that when I put the car in gear "just to see" what the timing is at at a lower RPM the timing jumped up to 28*. Remember, this is at a LOWER RPM... The timing went up. I couldnt believe what i was seeing so i asked my former autoshop teacher to help me and he said he needed to see what i was talking about. So we hooked up the timing gun (it is an adjustable one with the ****... craftsmen) and checked base timing again it was just at about 1000RPMs and the timing was again 18*. Then I said watch this, put it in gear and he watched the timing raise to 28*. We were both confused. Logic is telling us that this couldnt happen.
It runs like crap when it is in gear sitting at a stoplight. But at idle in park it doesnt sound that bad. WHat could be wrong? I plan on calling MSD soon since all my componets are theirs maybe they will have an idea.

 

What balancer did you use? Timing tab?

I assume that it has vaccum advance right? Is it hooked up?

 

I forget the name of the balancer, but it is a 7 1/4" and I have a billet aluminum timing tab in the correct location. I built the engine and found TDC the correct way and installed the timing tab. It has a vacuum advance, but when checking the timing I was not using it. If I could curve the distributor correctly I wont use it at all but that is another story.
Right now i am just concerned and confused why timing increased when RPMS decreased.

 

Do you have the vacume advance hooked up?
Try this out and see how she runs. Warm up the engine, disconnect vacume advance and leave it off. Have some one hold the motor at 3000 rpm and set timing to 36-38*. lock it down and adjust your idle speed back where u need it. Take it for a spin.

 

I have not been using my vaccuum advance. Ive done this, well im still playing with weights and springs for the advance curve.

I dont get why at lets say 700RPM the advance is at 28* but at 1000RPMs the advance is at 18* and then at 3000RPMS the advance is back at 32 or so *s that would mean my curve would look like a roller coaster... i cant figure out what is wrong... AM I making my question clear or do i need to explain what i mean more?

 

I do not trust dial-back timing lights. Just this past weekend a fellow racer was trying to figure out why his car was so slow, borrowed another racer's timing light and discovered his dial-back was not giving him the proper reading.

A lot of aftermarket dampers have advance markings to 45 or 90 degrees. If yours does, then use that rather than the dial-back timing light.

 

Mine does have those intervals, but can i still use a dial back timing light and just put it on zero? Right now i dont have another one accessable to me.

 

Yes, set the dial to zero. That's assuming you can trust the dial.

 

Well five7, you are correct. I called up MSD and they said you cant use any sort of adjustable timing light when using a MSD6 box or any other sort of spark multiplier. I am going to borrow a simple light and see how far the timing auctually is off. THanks

 

uh oh.. MSD 6AL, dial timing light.. been doing it for years..

 

i love my digital timing light, i hooked it up and stuck it through my cal hood and used the tach feature for a test drive on my IROC b4 i hooked up the regular tach lol...best 120 dollar tool i ever bought....