I have an 87 TPI engine, and I was reading about the self adjusting timing thing in TPI engines and to leave it at 6 degrees.

My friend has an 87 TPI engine as well and he has the timing advanced on his car.

My question is:

Was there a certain year that the self adjusting timing thing was added to the TPI, or is it for every year of TPI's existance???

I want to advance the timing on my car.

 

Que?

What do you mean about self adjusting timing? You set base timing at the distributor. It's a mechanical / manual setting, and should be 6' stock, with the set-timing connnector disconnected.

With the set-timing connector connected, the ECM then has control of the timing curve, but if the initial setting isn't correct, there is nothing the ECM can do to fix it.

And every thirdgen works that way, including the carbed cars (except the canadian models).

 

ok...so that means I CAN advance my timing.

 

Yes. When you unhook the ESC wire on the PS of the engine bay, you start the car & set it like any SB engine. Then you kill the car & rehook the ESC wire & you're good & your base timing is whatever you set it to.

edit: Ed, I think B.F.E. is somewhere in British Columbia.

What was the last year of non ECM Canadian GM cars?

 

where is the ESC wire located, so I can unhook it.
and just so you stop making a fool of yourself "dont take it the wrong way"

B.F.E. means Butt F**ked Egypt

good guess thought LOL

 

I don't know where it is on an F-body exactly, but it's on the passenger side of the harness on all years. It's a single wire that snakes out of one of the 2 large bundles of harness, & is disconnectable with a single weatherpak connection (think O2 sensor)

This holds true for 86 & 91 Camaro harnesses, so it should be on yours that way too.

Actually, when I was a teen, B.F.E. was reputed to be somewhere vaguely near about 30 miles out of the city I grew up in.

Good luck w/ the timing. Keep track of mileage & see how you do.

 

There's a connector coming out of the harness right above the heater box. It's tan with a black stripe. You disconnect this when setting your timing. It also states this information on the sticker under your hood.

 

well I have no A/C so I removed all my a/c stuff and my blower motor, everything that was origionally connected to that stuff is no longer connected. everything that was origionally connected to that stuff is tossed aside, my car is running fine so I don't think anything is wrong, no trouble codes.

hmm I will lookfor it, i am goign to sdjust my timing today from 6 to 8 degrees advanced, nothing major. Unless soemone has any recommendatons.

 

the only canadian cars without ECMs are the LG4s (low output carbed cars). All EFI GM cars have the timing controlled by the ECM.

 

Could you guys give me a hand. This may be the "bonehead of the month award", but I need some help. I'm doin head gaskets, rebuilt head, and headers, so: My buddy came over and took my distributor out one day before I got home from work. He came back last night to help me put it back in, and could not remember how it should go back in. He didn't make any marks on the distributor so we don't know how to put it back in. I have the #1 piston at tdc, but I guess I need to figure out where the rotor should be pointing to fire the #1 cylinder. Needless to say, this buddy didn't get any free beer last night. Anyone who can help me can have his beer though!!! Thank you.