Ignition Timing Mod

Advancing your ignition timing is a trick that has been around for years and it's been proven to work on every car that has a distributor. Advancing ignition timing gives you better low end power, that's all there is to it.

Step 1 - Find the distributor. Look in the picture and see where the distributor attaches to the cylinder head. You will need to make a mark that shows the stock timing setting(look in the purple square that says "Without timing mark"). Take a Sharpie marker, a screwdriver, a razor blade, whatever, and make a mark that goes across the distributor onto the cylinder head so when you move the distributor, the mark separates and you can measure the amount of movement from the distributor. Now that you have the mark made, it should look like the red outlined section, marked "With timing mark". Now to see how it works, look at the blue outlined section. You can see how the black mark on the right shows the stock setting and the mark on the left shows you how far you have advanced the timing.

Step 2 - Fill your car with 90-93(whatever they have in your area) octane gas. You should not advance your timing with low octane fuel because it will ping and that's bad.

Step 3 - Loosen the 3, 12mm bolts that hold the distributor in place. Don't remove them, just loosen them so you can rotate the distributor. Now, turn the distributor all the way towards the firewall, which is full advance. Tighten the 3 bolts and start the car. Drive the car down the street and make a full throttle pass(in any gear, doesn't matter what rpm or speed, just be at full throttle). If the car pings, immediately back off the throttle and pull the car over. When testing this, I always keep the tools in the car so I can adjust the timing without having to drive to the garage a zillion times. Now turn the distributor back towards the front of the car 1mm(1mm=~1degree). Tighten the bolts and do another full throttle pass. If the car pings, stop and move the distributor back another 1mm. Keep turning back the distributor 1mm at a time until the car stops pinging(doing a full throttle pass after each adjustment). Once the car stops pinging, you're done! You should be able to advance your timing 3-4 degrees(3-4mm) at least without having to worry about the car pinging.