Big Block 454 Timing Question?

[savatreatabvr]

Originally Posted by bnoon

THIS! ^^^ Gets my vote.

It happened so bad to one of my old Pontiac motors that it started a metal on metal sound that sounded like a rod knock. Engine wasn't smooth at all at that point. Couldn't set timing except to advance until it was hard to crank, then back off a couple of degrees. Replaced it with a used one for $5 and no more noise and engine was back in balance so it ran much smoother. The good part about stock mid 70's engines is that they are so low on compression that spark knock margin of error is rather large compared to a performance engine with higher compression.

I agree with the harmonic balancer being a problem, I replaced the harmonic balancer on my 1978 Dodge 440 moho and the difference was dramatic! Thank you for bringing that to my attention, I totally forgot about!