Retarded

Discussion in 'Race 400/430/455' started by BQUICK, Aug 29, 2020.

  1. BQUICK

    BQUICK Gold Level Contributor

    How much timing retard can a motor take without having issues? I retard my top end timing in order to slow car down for 10.00 index races depending on air I retard 4-10 degrees after 5000rpm from 34deg using MSD Digital 6 box.

    In other words any harm from running 24-26 deg on top end? Exhaust temps get pretty low...down from 1400 to mid 1200s. Better than high exhaust temps I guess...

    I do it cuz it's easy way to slow down....
     
  2. hugger

    hugger Well-Known Member

    Have a few friends who run 15°,....but they are also making 2k hp turbo setups
     
  3. Stevem

    Stevem Well-Known Member

    I don't see any issue with that way of doing it over limited throttle opening to get the same results, so I guess it just comes down which helps the car to stay the most consistent!
     
  4. Bens99gtp

    Bens99gtp Well-Known Member


    How are you trigger the digital 6 to retard, are you just appling 12volts to the blue wire in high gear manually or do you have an rpm switch to do it
     
  5. BQUICK

    BQUICK Gold Level Contributor

    RPM switch with a 5K pill and a relay. Not real easy on Digital 6.....
     
  6. BQUICK

    BQUICK Gold Level Contributor

    I have a throttle stop as well but for fine tuning I'd like to use the retard.
     
  7. Bens99gtp

    Bens99gtp Well-Known Member

    Figured that would be the only way to do it consistently on a digital 6....

    So not using the stop....do you find retarding the timing slows you down.......cause there has been some ppl that say they pull timing to pick up time on top end.

    I'm running 35 on my motor and was wondering if dropping a few degrees would make it easier on the top end
     
  8. BQUICK

    BQUICK Gold Level Contributor

    With alum heads when you go below 30deg it will start to slow down some. With iron not so much.

    I was doing 34 to 30 retard mainly to be nice to motor. Straight 34 seemed fastest on alum head.
    34 to 30 was what my iron headed motor loved......

    I'm trying to find a quick way to go from say 9.96 to 10.00. I used to do turns of the throttle stop but for some reason (mixture maybe) it seemed inconsistent.

    I also add weight....that seems MOST reliable. Have to add 40lbs to go from 9.96 to 10.00
     
  9. 70 GMuscle

    70 GMuscle Plan B

    I picked up an ez plate system used.
    Need to kill a few tenths.
    The ignition timing is good info here. Thank you.
     

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