Hey guys, I don't know if this is normal or not, but here goes:

My engine's ignition timing was set at 16 degrees advanced, and it should be at 10. So I adjusted it to ten a little while ago and now it seems to have LESS power. To me it seems like it should have more. Is there something I'm missing here?

Also, my engine is a 2.8l v6. Thanks for the help!

EDIT: here's some more info: when I was rotating the distributor cap, I had briefly advanced the ignition timing to about 19 degrees and the idle speed seemed to perk up, and when I adjusted it down to 10, the idle speed slowed down. 10 is the recommended place, so this has me pretty confused.

 

Factory tunes are normally rich and retarded from optimum.

 

Do you know where optimum is? And would having it there long term damage the engine?

 

If im not mistaken shouldnt the base timing be at 10*. There is a proper way to adjust the base timing, look it up. On my 2.8 fiero I had to ground the aldl ports so the ecm wouldnt advance the timing and from there I set my base timing at 10*. Not sure about the v6 camaros though.

 

On your engine you have quick disconnect connector above the heater housing on a Tan/Black EST wire. That connector needs to be disconnected when setting the timing. Setting the timing with it connected results in greatly retarded timing, which generates more exhaust heat (sometimes glowing exhaust manifolds) and greatly reduced performance.

Upper far left on this pic





Remember to reconnect the connector after setting the timing.

 

Yeah, you've got to set base timing with the timing wire disconnected. 10* is still stock, but on my 91 with the very similar 3.1L V6 I ran it at 14* and it helped a little.

If you're setting the base timing with the timing wire still connected you're going to be WAY retarded from even the stock ignition timing specs in reality.

 

My old V6 was happiest around 12-13, but I had quite a few mods done to it, including 3.4 swap, so youd have to just play around and see what is best.