Ok, when I set my timing to 10 it stumbles and wants to die. When I move it down to 0 the RPMs are higher and engine runs much smoother. I have a mallory unilite and KB 118 cam. Power is down but it idles much better at 0. Is this normal?
How old is your balancer? Is it possible that it has 'walked' on the rubber biscuit and your timing marks are off?
Don't flame me for this, but are you disconnecting the vac advance when you set the timing? I have to ask, because if you give it too much timing, it will start to sputter and miss.
Hey guys, the balancer is only a couple of months old and it was a rebuild. What is vacume advance? Just kidding. Yes, I removed and pluged the line before setting the timing. Could my distributor be off? I did not build the engine, could the way the cam was installed cause this?
Well, then how is the distributor? Could worn out bushings in the distributor be giving you trouble? The timing could be plain wrong on the cam, it could have been installed too advanced, or your timing marks could have been off during assembly. Chain could be junk too. I hate having to guess at stuff somebody else did, so i can imagine how frustrated you are with this. I hope you sort it out.
No, That isn't normal. Advancing the timing should give you a smoother, faster idle. I run the KB 118 cam. I have an Ignitionman distributor, and I run 16* initial, with 32* total in at 2200 RPM, with 10* vacuum advance from full manifold vacuum. That's 26* at idle. The engine loves it. I haven't seen a warmed over Buick V8 that doesn't like at least 12* initial. How sure are you of your timing light? I would try to verify TDC with a piston stop, and degree wheel. They might have messed up your balancer when they rebuilt it. Try setting your timing with a vacuum gauge hooked up. Advance the timing until the gauge maxes out, then see where it is. If all else fails, degree the cam.
Thanks for the info. I have a new distributor and will try the vacume timing set next weekend. Thanks again
worst case, just adjust it till it runs the best, i used to do it like that years ago, i moved it till it just started to knock, then backed it off, thats when i didnt know how to adjust timing the right way, i did that this summer just for the heck of it ,and when i got back to the shop it was within 1 degree for the best preformance.thats if your problem requires pulling the timing cover off and you dont want to.
