Good eyes Tim, I thought I did a good job cropping that picture. I guess not. Not sailing, heads are at the machine shop. Should be back soon. Next is the bed is coming off to replace the rear tank. Thinking about a 38 gallon to give it some range. May just replace them both while i have it apart. Besides, you have the Honda.
That seems real high to me. Most engines I timed liked 34-36 max. I’m talking without vacuum hooked up. When I time street engines, I unhook the vacuum advance and cap/plug both side of that. Bring the engine up to 3,500 minimum - that should be past the mechanical advance, and set the timing. Initial usually lands somewhere between 8-12 BTDC. Mechanical of course advances for acceleration, and vacuum only kicks in for light throttle cruising.
Seems too high to me too, but even at 11:1 no detonation, and a bit lethargic. I'll put a light on it and see what total actually is.
Do you possibly have a vacuum leak somewhere?
Negative. Once I set the timing up a small amount, the truck runs wonderfully. Just finding that place where it runs great at all RPM, and starts well when hot, has been pretty much impossible. I'm picky about the way my stuff runs, and most people wouldn't notice the difference.....
I checked timing like you suggested. Found the problem too. Mechanical advance is practically nonexistent until 4500 rpm....so to make it run even close to how it should going down the road, initial timing ends up about 21°. When I get home from vacation (which starts Wednesday morning), I'll recurve this distributor.
That will make it behave much better. Good find!
Meh.
Make sure the harmonic balancer hasn’t slipped. That’s good for making you chase your tail.
I put a new one on it when I built the engine. Someone had installed a 302 balancer on it.
