Where should I be to at least be in the ballpark.?

Thanks in advance.

Cris

theres a whole lot more to this question than just what ignition box youre running.... Ive run MSDs before on mostly stock engines and I found that the best static timing setting was usually pretty close to what best timing setting was with stock ignition box..... but in my case "all else was the same" except for swapping the stock box for an MSD.
Same cam, same carb, same jetting in carb, same heads, same compression, same weights and springs in the same distributor, etc.... we dont know any of these things about your engine.

That's funny, "Thanks in advance"

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Hyper_pak

Yep, a complex question. It'd be great to know what other parts are in the car and what are your intended uses for it.

But, if you are just looking for "in the ballpark" for starting the car and initial running, then shoot for 5 deg BTDC with the vac advance hose disconnected, just like you would for points or any other type of ignition. This assumes you have a basically stock engine. If you have a hot camshaft, then start at 10 deg BTDC.

Hope this helps,
Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Initial advance is dependent on the governor in the distributor. For example a distributor for a 1978 Super Six engine has a 9R governor. This means that there is 18* of advance built into the distributor. Since a \6 likes around 30 degree of mechanical advance this means you can set your initial to 12* BTDC. How fast you get to this maximum is handled by the springs attached to the weights and the governor. What springs to use is based on your particular engine combination. The OE springs usually reach maximum advance at around 3500 rpm and have a fairly slow advance curve to avoid detention (pinging).

Other versions of the \6 use different settings for initial timing. You can check your manual for your particular year of manufacture. By knowing the initial setting, you can subtract this from 30, divide by 2 and get a guesstimate on the built in advance.

Of course this stuff can be all changed. How comfortable are you with removing and reinstalling the distributor? Do you have access to welding equipment?

The only advantage of a MSD 6 is that it can generate multiple spark pulses up to a certain rpm level. I have found that this can lead to a more stable idle and maybe a slight increase in performance.

Thanks for the advice. This is what I was looking for. Internally nothing's been changed, couple bolt on doo-dads on the outside.

Cheers,
Cris