+ or - the timing makes a big difference!

[pietro]

Just had belts, water pump and a clutch fited. Also had the timing done to book spec. Marked of both new and old settings and then had a play myself. It seems that the trick is to get the best balance of power, setting one way gives low down grunt the other way gives top end poke. Does anyone know the perfect setting?

 

[Mark]

yes changing the timing give a massive differance, best is to set it to the factory setting, you dont wanna melt something by advancing it too much!

 

[pietro]

Melt something? Is that possible?

Does advance or retard give more power?

Also which way is advance, is that where you can feel the power with little throttle?

Thanks

 

[AMY]

Turning the distributer towards the rear of the car will advance the timing, as a general rule the more advance you can run the better, the only drawback is that if you over advance the ignition you will get pinking or pre-ignition leading to detonation, which can melt or even punch holes in pistons. As the k10 doesn't have a knock sensor fitted as standard it can be quite dangerous to over advance the ignition on our cars, therefor I would stick with the standard timing or if you are prepared to run your car on optimax, a little more advance than standard. if you are hearing any pinking (a loud metallic tapping) I would take your timing back to stock. Ideally get yourself a timing light and measure it accurately.
cheers
Amy

 

[pietro]

I tried playing with the timing again to see how differently the car performed in a controlled test. The car began to idle badly the more I turned the distributor towards the front of the car, the acceleration and drive also suffered. The car has only done 24k and I presume the last setup was by Nissan. I marked this point before I had the timing set up correctly by the book. It performed worse setup correctly with the strobe, the idel was too rough. I then moved the distributor toward the rear of the car, I tried this at a few points. The best setup for all round performance seemed to be about 1/4 cm from the correct setup. How is this possible?

 

[SammoHung]

Amy: I allways run on premium fuel (optimax and the likes)

do you think it would improve efficiency to adjust (advance) my timing a little since i am running better fuel?

Cheers

 

[AMY]

pietro.

The timing marks on our cars are part of the timing belt cover, therefor not the most accurate, especially if the cover is loose, or been refitted in a slightly different position. More advance will usually make a car idle faster, so it may be the case that your idle is set too low and the advance is compensating to make the idle appear normal. I would say your problem probably lies with the timing marks being slightly out as you say that general performance suffers as well as idle speed. If this is the case I would adjust the timing to whatever position feels right but listen out for pinking.

Sammohung,

Advancing your timing will give better economy as well as better performance up to a point, how much you can run depends on a lot of things, such as compression ratio, AFR, intake temps etc. as your car is set up to run on regular 94 octane fuel and optimax or bp ultimate etc are around the 98 mark you should be ok to advance by a couple of degrees, but as outlined previously you need to be carefull and look out for signs of pre-ignition.

Hope that helps

Amy

 

[SammoHung]

Amy,

You’re a f***** genius as well!

I'm goanna give it a go...a couple of degrees sounds like a big step though, so I might try 1 degree to begin with.....nice one!

If any more genius' move in here I'm goanna have to throw a party!

 

[pietro]

Thanks Amy.

 

[Slim]

be warned, on an older engine, it can make the engine smoke more and also make the big ends knock quite badly, as theres more load on the engine.

if your running on a high octane fuel, advance it by about 3 degrees. And make sure you take off the vacuum feed to the dizzy and block it off, otherwise you'll get a false reading

 

[pietro]

I have advanced the ignition and it drives great! I am not sure why I need to remove the vacume from the dizzy? Will this give me more power? What does the vacume on the dizzy actuate? Thanks

 

[Slim]

when your setting the timing, you need to remove the vacuum pipe from the dizzy and block it off. The vacuum advances the timing. when the timing has been set, you put it back on then.