Is timing worth anything??

[5ohhh]

Well Guys Im headed back to the track AGAIN on friday nite. Im modless for the first time in a while so Im looking into some freebies. Is advancing the Timing really worth anything?? I know with my dads Blown Alcohol race motor advancing the time gives you better throttle response and a little more snap down low but often can hurt you on top end. I guess my question is should I bump the timing from stock? If it is worth it, how many degrees should I be looking for? 13-14???

 

[IM_FASTER_THAN_]

Every car is different. You can go to far with your timing and kill you. or not set it far enough. The best advice i can give you is to take a tool with you and play with it at the track. Thats what i would do if i were you add acouple take a couple off until you are happy with your times at the track. And use a good timing lite not some ****ty walmart jobby

 

[Ashentep]

I just want to add that if you're not consistent at the track with ETs, use your mph as the judging factor. If you ET say 13.89 at 99mph, then 13.95 at 101mph after bumping the timing up or down, then the slower ET but faster MPH is the setup you want to go with.

 

[5ohhh]

good deal guys, yeah i have always heard the mph shows how much power your making. and also, i got a self inducted msd light thats my ol mans so im sure it should do the job just fine. any advice on a good starting point?

 

[Ashentep]

My car seems to like 14*. Haven't really played much with it since changing a bunch of things on the car.

I'd start at 12 or 13* and go from there. Some people have problems even at stock timing, so you never know what will work best.

 

[94MustangGT5.0]

After I did my intake swap last year, I simply stuck my distributor back in and lined it up with my marks I had made before the removal (which should have been the stock timing). Anyways, about 2 weeks ago after thinking about what I could do to get my car running stronger besides cap, rotor, plugs, and wires, I went over to my buddies and used his timing light and found out that it was only advanced about 6*, so we put it to 14* and I really did feel a difference. Maybe its because my timing before was too low, but I would say advanced timing greatly helps in throttle response, just don't advance it too far and detonate. Also, with advanced timing, make sure you are always running premium (92-93 octane) gas or detonation could occur.

 

[Killercanary]

Every car is different. You can go to far with your timing and kill you. or not set it far enough. The best advice i can give you is to take a tool with you and play with it at the track. Thats what i would do if i were you add acouple take a couple off until you are happy with your times at the track. And use a good timing lite not some ****ty walmart jobby

My thoughts exactly!


Bumping my timing from stock to 12* took me from a 15.02 at 91mph to a 14.96 at 91.5mph. I may have had a little more in it with a few more degrees but I didn't know what detonation sounded like back then (I was a newbie LOL) and was afraid to go any higher. It will definitely help if it doesn't ping on you and you don't go too high. PLEASE don't make the mistake that for some reason I see so many fox guys do... they crank it up as high as they can get away with. I know guys around here that are running 18-20* just because they can for some reason get away with it. I'm willing to bet money that they are not making power like that up that high. On the dyno my car made no more power at 18* than it did at 14*, even after adding a little fuel to it (adding timing tends to lean a car out a little).

 

[Killercanary]

P.S.- run a shortbelt and you should pick up a tenth or so too, as well as MPH or more. A shortbelt is only like $25 or so.

 

[5ohhh]

My thoughts exactly!


Bumping my timing from stock to 12* took me from a 15.02 at 91mph to a 14.96 at 91.5mph. I may have had a little more in it with a few more degrees but I didn't know what detonation sounded like back then (I was a newbie LOL) and was afraid to go any higher. It will definitely help if it doesn't ping on you and you don't go too high. PLEASE don't make the mistake that for some reason I see so many fox guys do... they crank it up as high as they can get away with. I know guys around here that are running 18-20* just because they can for some reason get away with it. I'm willing to bet money that they are not making power like that up that high. On the dyno my car made no more power at 18* than it did at 14*, even after adding a little fuel to it (adding timing tends to lean a car out a little).

i read ya loud and clear. Since my car is track only should i attempt running higher than 14 with a real high octane fuel?? Its very easy for me to get my hands on 105-110 and i wouldent mind running it if its worth anything.

 

[pleasehelp]

Sorry, don't mean to hijack the thread but I got a quick question for killer; did you have to run premium gas with that much timing(14)? You probably do(did) but I just want to know if you got away with running regular gas. Thanks.

 

[91LX_5L]

so higher isnt allways better? i have 16* and I run 91 octaine, no pining that I notice. I didnt notice much of a diff from where it was before (think it was 12?)

 

[HISSIN50]

so higher isnt allways better? i have 16* and I run 91 octaine, no pining that I notice. I didnt notice much of a diff from where it was before (think it was 12?)

exactly. That is a nice thing about the widespread advent of dynos - one can see where more timing (but before detonation) is too much (this is one reason I go against the grain in my posts and say that I dont run on the ragged edge of detonation).

With the heat of late, the car feels like a dog anyhow.

 

[Killercanary]

Yes, I always ran/run 92 octane fuel in my car.

91LX_5L- I agree with hissin on not running on the ragged edge of detonation. I ran my car for about a month at 15* of timing. I never heard it detonating under normal driving until one day I had the top up and my windows down and was driving next to a jersey barrier (the ~3' tall cement barriers on the highways) and as I laid into the throttle I heard it pinging as the sound echoed off the barrier and back to my ear. I thought that 15 may have been too high, and it proved to be. I backed it down a little and I never had a problem since.


5ohhh- that's a hard one, if you run too much octane, especially on a NA car, you can actually slow down. I wouldn't run anymore race gas than would get you to around 95-96 octane as I don't think you'd need anymore. I have in the past (again, when I was a newbie) put a few gallons of 115 octane fuel in my car before going to the track and honestly I didn't gain or lose anything. My dad recently added some compression to his car and we had a SCT switch chip installed, on for pump gas (less timing) and one for race gas (more timing). The race gas tune with its additional timing only made 4 more RWHP... it did however pick up EVERYWHERE so that 4rwhp would more than likely be worth 1-2mph at the track. But this shows that its not going to make a HUGE difference normally in a NA car unless its REALLY high in compression.

 

[5ohhh]

ok good deal guys thanks for the help. Im not sure if i will get around to bumping it tommorow nite because i have a half tank of 87 to burnout first. Once i make the change though I will definatly be back with some feedback.

 

[HISSIN50]

sounds good. I would add that this is kind of a bad time of year to add timing so keep an eye on it (ambient heat, hotter engine temps, etc = more prone to detonation or even preignition). for example (kind of like what Paul was relating), I can run 15* base timing in the 88 GT VERT in the winter, but only 10* in ~90*F+ (it gets to 110*F here - has been the last week). Fall is a great time to bump timing, IMHO.

good luck.

 

[91LX_5L]

Mabye ill bump mine back down then to be safe, I havent heard any pining though but I didnt notice a diffrence in power anyways. Ill put it at 14*.