timing again

[J20fan]

I have a question that I cannot seem to answer for myself. I have searched and read lots of info on this subject but now I am if anything confused. Fuel is around $3.40 a gallon so I have been trying to get as much economy as possible, yeah I know stop laughing, from my truck. I have a stock 360 2bbl, manual 4 speed. It has the original engine, as far as I can tell, and the original specification sticker. The sticker states:8 deg before @ 800 rpm, 1600 high idle, second step, 50 rpm lean droop with a .033-.038 gap for the Ford ignition.
When I follow factory specs the engine just doesnt seem to feel right. I have 19 inchs of vacuum, new side-gapped plugs set @ .035, new 8mm plug wires, new cap, rotor, fuel filter, and new air filter. I have advanced the timing to 10 degrees,there is a large marker at this point for some reason, and it does seem to rum a bit better. Should I advance more or will this cause problems, I have seem posts where 13 degrees is mentioned I have also seen the mechanical advance spring issue discussed I was going to try this but cannot seem to find any springs to buy or any one that knows enough about the 360 to satisfy me. Too many .I THINKS in the conversation. Please help
Ive been at it for 2 days and I am close but still not there

[ September 03, 2001: Message edited by: J20fan ]

[ September 03, 2001: Message edited by: J20fan ]

[JeepFreak]

13 degrees initial timing will work great and I actually run 15 on my wifes Wag. Now both of my rigs have no emission which might effect how much initial timing you can run. Good way to tell is to advance it to 15 and go drive it. If it starts to ping under a heavy load back the timing off two degrees. Then go test drive. If she pings again back it off some more. Every AMC motor I have delt with always ran better with more initial timing. The advance springs are made by Mr Gasket and are part #925D. It is listed as an advance curve kit for 65 and up Ford Dist.

[ September 03, 2001: Message edited by: JeepFreak ]

[J20fan]

With the engine vacuum re-hosed using advise from this forum I suspect it will not be much different on emmisions equipment. I will try the 13 to 15 degree range. I have asked the different shops I called to check for mr gasket springs and all i get are negative responses even on the ford equipment. I will have to try someone else. I am far more experienced with gm equipment, can an hei ignition be adapted to the 360? I will be honest i have not searched the forum
for this possibility but i do have a couple of them and some point style ignitions with coils sitting around gathering dust.

[JeepFreak]

I did the TFI ignition upgrade this weekend and it is worth the money. As far as the advance springs go I got mine from Jeggs. I'm sure that you could get them through Summit online as well. All the advance springs do is allow more advance earlier in the advance curve. Most of us will very rarely get our motors to 4,000 rpm so this is why I chose to use the springs in mine. Just gives you more advance where you need it. As far as the HEI goes DUI makes a dissy for our rigs but they are expensive. They are a single wire unit though so you could ditch your Ford box of death.

[ September 03, 2001: Message edited by: JeepFreak ]

[J20fan]

Thanks JeepFreak I have settled on 13-14 degrees it hard to tell because of the lack of single degree marks and the angle of view. The response is a lot smoother. While checking with the light there is the occasional blip in the mark, its very slight 1/16" or so toward tdc. Would I be correct in assuming an ignition miss? I cant figure out where since all external components are new except electronics. I think I will go out
and take the distributor apart I have not seen the mechanical setup yet and that is my next focus, usable mechanical advance under 3500 rpm since that is the max I ever take it. Do the spring kits come with a variety of springs designed for different curves?

[JeepFreak]

The stock mechanical advance is made up of two different sized springs. If you have a spare distributor you can actually take the light spring from the other and replace the heavy spring in the unit on the rig. The part number I gave you just has two springs and they are very light. I actually just this evening took them out and went with two light springs from spare distributors I had. For me the lighter Mr Gasket springs give a little to much advance to soon but the two stock light springs were just perfect. As far as the miss goes this seems to be something that these ignitions are known for so I wouldn't get to upset with it.