First, this engine only has 30,000 miles on it. I decided that while I had the engine out to paint the bay, I would replace gaskets of the timing cover and the water pump as well as the front oil seal (had a little leak), I thought it best to check the timing tab since it was set way off to the side. I lined up the timing marks on the crank and camshaft right at TDC. I slid the timing cover on and the damper (if I remember correctly I bought a new damper at that 30,000 mile rebuild). When I checked, the damper timing mark was about 4 degrees past the TDC "0" mark on the tab. Guessing that I set it to 10 degrees at the rebuild I think I have been running at 6 degrees all this time. It has been running pretty good but I did notice less power after the rebuild and lower than previous gas mileage. I reset the tab to TDC for the damper mark to put it back together. Will set it to 10 degrees once I put the engine back in the car.

 

Oops... I think I got that backwards. With the damper at TDC 4 degrees past the "0" mark on the tab, then setting timing to 10 degrees on the mark would mean I was running 14 degrees all this time....