New heads

[76Charlie]

Alright, I have peanut port headed 454 .30 flat tops with valve reliefs with 800 cfm edelbrock carb with edelbrock 2162 camshaft (218/228 @.50 with 114 lsa and .500 lift) with stock exhaust manifolds My motor is choked big time, I know so. I plan on getting some 100cc edelbrock heads to bump compression from 7:8:1 to 9:1 and of course headers. My question is that with this increase in breathing as well as compression will the EDL 2162 be sufficient? Right now the motor is sluggish, and well, I just know it feels choked up and plugged because of the peanut heads. While I have the motor apart should I go ahead and get a cam more along the lines of (221/231 @.50 with 112 lsa and .533 lift) I don't want to run the risk of too high lift with a new head and smashing a valve, I don't know how far from stock ration I can go before that becomes a problem.

[geezer#99]

I'd leave that cam in there, put the new heads on and some headers first.
Fine tune it with more timing and then maybe think about a higher lift cam.

[76Charlie]

Yeah that's what I was thinking, how much timing do you think initial? I read and have been told people run about 16 initial on 8:1 motor, stick with 16 for the 9:1?

[geezer#99]

Start at 12*. Work up from there till you hear pinging. Pull it back 2*.
Don't worry about total until you find out optimum initial.
THen aim for 34-36 degrees all in by 3200 rpm. Add 10-12 in the vacuum can.
Lot of your timing depends on what truck, what gears, what tranny and what's the elevation where you live. At higher elevations you can run more timing.

[76Charlie]

How do I check total timing with just an old school harmonic balancer without that badass timing tape some people have?

[geezer#99]

Get a dial back to zero timing light. You turn the dial on the timing light while setting the timing on your timing tab to zero and read the timing on the dial on the timing light.
Every tuner should have one.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-G1059/

[76Charlie]

I never knew they were that cheap, I do need to get one! Thanks so much for all your help, very informative. One last thing, when setting initial will the ping happen at idle while I'm turning the distributor or does it happen underload?

[geezer#99]

It'll ping underload. Best way to check is to get into top gear at a low speed and lean into the throttle gently.
Usually around 25-30 mph works.

[76Charlie]

Ok good to know! I hope I can hear it pinging, I have a crazy loud exhaust