I was just wondering if I should follow the book on as far as timing? Is there a better timing setting? I was told 5 BTDC....Is that about right? Thanks for your help!

What year car are you working on?

I run my slant at 1 ATDC. It really likes it. 5 BTDC is for the cars with catalytic convertors. Set timing at TDC. Drive without vacuum advance hooked up and see if it pings. If not, hook the vacuum advance back up and check for pinging. If it pings with V.A., stick an allen wrench into the distributor vacuum pod and back off of it some. You are not reducing the total advance provided by the vacuum pod, just the time/rate it kicks in. (NOTE: only electronic ignition distributors have adjustable vacuum pod.

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82 D150-225/727
02 Dakota-3.9/5 speed
87 GMC C7000-8.2 Detroit Diesel/5+2

That's a critical question. Another: What distributor are you running?
5° BTDC is for a whole lot of slant-6 cars and trucks over the years, many built before the catalytic converter was even the germ of an idea.

1° ATDC suggests your advance curves may want some further tweaking...

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Yeah, my distributor could use a recurve. It is a stock 1974 electronic ignition dizzy with factory curves. Was kind of flat with the 1-barrel but runs great with the BBD.

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82 D150-225/727
02 Dakota-3.9/5 speed
87 GMC C7000-8.2 Detroit Diesel/5+2

Jeb, the stock '73-74 curve is TDC( it has a 15R governor)...you're kind of lacking 1 degree of mech adv. at 1ATDC...Grab one of the ebay 1976 dist. Dan always posts about...install at 10-12BTDC, it'll wake things up (and give good mileage)...

5BTDC sounds about right for a late 60's points distributor and lots of other vehicles... what year again?

-D.Idiot

Oops, sorry guys. I always forget this....it's a 68 valiant 225 1920 1-bbl, with a 65 main jet. I just installed a pertronix ignition and fireball coil. I also widened the gap on the plugs. It runs good, I was just going to check where it was at this weekend. Other than that, it's the stock distributor with the stock / original vacuum advance. Also, would it be typical of this set up to have no low-end power? It just seems sluggish off the start. Top end speaking, it pulls real hard above 55mph.

The Holley 1920 should be a 56 main jet...65 would be a bit rich for even the smogger 1945...

1968 225 has been recommended for TDC. (My '67 is either 5BTDC or TDC). If you change the governor out for one with a shorter slot you cn then set for this fomula 30-(2xGovernor stamp)=Initial setting

(So if you swap for a 13R points governor...you can go 30-26= set initial to 4 BTDC...)

Cheers-

-D.Idiot

5° BTDC is a good starting point for that setup. It's definitely not normal to have a weak low-end response such as you describe. Time for some inspection and diagnosis of the carburetor and distributor.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

What should the gap be on one of these electronic distributors?
And what can I use to set that with?
Thanks

Reluctor-to-pickup gap is 0.008", and must be set with a nonmagnetic (brass or plastic) feeler gauge.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I knew it had to be non-magnetic Dan - I was trying to find out if there is something similar to use - that as I now know - is .008 thick that I could use??

Thanks!

About the only thing I know is 0.008" thick is...an 0.008" feeler gauge! Sorry. Here's Lisle's version.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

One thing to note while holding the feeler in place and setting the gap, is to leave it in there and slowly check all the teeth. I have a couple of stock dizzy reluctors that have one or two teeth that are either cast a bit longer or have worn teeth (don't work so good when 4 teeth are good and 2 hit the pickup). So check all the teeth for uniformity.

-D.Idiot