283 inginition timing?????

[merlin65]

Let me tell you what I am dealing with. I have this truck 283 with holley intake and edelbrock carb. The man I bought it from said it had a cam in her but it was not anything huge. But he was not sure what it was. So my question is what should the timing be? I am running an hei. It has a new timing set so I know that is good but she pops a little through the carb and runs like crap when you try to drive it. She runs great when you are just idling and revving. I know its just a little timing problem but just not sure what the timing should be. Any help would be great. thanks:

[LILRED66]

At great risk of being smoked by the resident mechanical gurus on this site, I suggest starting the truck and slightly rotating the distributor, from its current position, clockwise and counterclockwise, to advance or dwell the timing for a smoother idle and acceleratation. For a definitive answer to your question, you should post this topic in the Engine & Driveline Forum. Good luck with troubleshooting the timing on your 283.

[greg64]

Hi Merlin,

Okay, first things first. What's the base timing set to with the vacuum advance disconnected? Should be between 4 and 10 BTDC. I used 8 on my 283, but I couldn't find a definitive reference. Once you have that setup, blip the throttle and watch the timing. It should advance further as the revs climb, which tests the centrifugal advance. Next, reconnect the vacuum advance. This might be part of the problem... where is the vacuum line connected on the carb? It should be to a ported source. Although if you temporarily connect it to full manifold vacuum, you'll easily be able to see if the vacuum advance can is working properly. Assuming all this checks out, are you just dealing with bad wires/plugs/cap/rotor?

Will the engine not cruise at speed? Or is it only when you hit it?

[LILRED66]

greg64:

Thanks for providing the techincal expertise, to shore up my feeble attempt at shade-tree mechanics. I have seen the distributor adjustment done, when a timing light was not available and we were just trying to limp it home. Thanks for the insight and instruction.