Hello everyone, I had some engine problems a few months ago where there was some pretty loud cracking comming from the carb at higher rpm's, turned out to be an exhaust lobe worn almost completely off and the lifter was dished out. The cam bearings were worn badly also. After much debate about investing in the 300 I decided to go ahead and rebuild it. I decided that I wanted a little extra power so I spent a little money on her. Bored her .030 and droped in 10.2/1 pistons and a mild cam, bought a 64 aluminum 4 barrel intake from e-bay and a new edelbrock carb, 1406 I think, 600 cfm. Threw on some headers and 2.5 inch exhaust. Everything went back together well and I freshend her up with some new paint. Only problem is there dosent seem to be as much power as I expected. I figure there should be about 280hp. However from a hole shot perspective there dosent seem to be any launch power. It does still have the 2 speed trany and 225 X 70 X 15 radial ta rear tires. So I started looking into the ignition timing, it still has the orig breaker distributor with new blue streak tune up parts and I set the dwel to 30 deg.I found the vacuum advance defective and replaced it. Now I ham having problems setting the timing. I read a good article about timing and compression and octain rating. The article indicated that the full advanced ignition timing should be at 34 to 36 degres btdc. I am not sure what this means though. Is full advance with the vacuum hooked up on the vacuum advance at idle or with the engine at high rpms and the mechanical advance and the vacuum advance at maximum. Any tips tricks ideas any feedback is much apreciated! Mark
Hey Mark, Full advance is with the vacuum advance disconnected and plugged. It is the total advance you get between initial advance and mechanical advance. So, if your initial is set at 10 degrees with the vacuum unplugged, and you get another 24 degrees by 4000 rpm, your total advance is 34 degrees. I think the general consensus is that 34-36 degrees at 2500 rpm is optimal. With the high compression pistons, you may need to run a little less, like 30-32. Grab your timing light and have some fun. I'm sure others will respond with a need for a vacuum advance limiting device too. Also, make sure you are running off the full manifold vacuum port on your 1406; it's the port on the driver's side. Anything I've missed guys? Aaron
