Heres another from a dummy...TIMING?

Well,
I'm new to tweeking and building engines, I'm not sure what people mean by total timing and initial timing. My 70 .030 over 455 stage 1 specs has petronix dist. with a little cam and headers. At 700 idle initail timing is about 8. o No:

 

You need to bump initial to 10-12 at a min.
Use a vacuum gage to set timing. Tune to max vac draw of 17-19"
If you encounter hard "hot starts" reduce timing to 15-17.
You should see a big improvement in idle and performance.

 

There are mechanical weights inside the distributor that "fly" away from their center pivot points as the engine rpm's increase, and hence the speed of the rotating distributor increases. This is called Mechanical advance.

The outside of the weights are held close to the center by springs and this is their "resting" position and this is your initial timing point. As the rotating mass increases the weights "fly" outward from centrifugal forces and advance the distributor giving you your total timing.

Buicks like to have all of their mechanical advance in early compared to other motor brands - somewheres between 2000-2500 rpm, I believe. By varying the spring strength and weight mass, you can accomplish this - one of the aftermarket sources sells a spring and weight kit....Moroso ??

Larry is the distributor and timing expert....maybe he'll chime in

 

the weights?

Do the weights matter even if I have a petronix electronic points do-hickey,not the normal points and condenser?

 

k

okay