tune up

[deathcharger71]

with my timing set and my vacuum advance disnonnected and the carb pluggedi can rev my engine to 3000 and there is obsolutely no stumble at all, it runs great. once i connect the vacuum it gets a stumbles and runs poorly. i was told i can adjust when my vacuum advance kicks in on the distributor with an allen wrench, and this might help with my detonation on warm days too. how do i do this? i have the mopar electronic convertion kit and orange box.

[69chargeryeehaa]

everything you need to know and more is in this article:

http://www.sweptline.com/tech/engine2.html

follow it to a "T" and your motor will run perfect just like mine, good luck.

[dodge freak]

Did you check if your vacuum advance is leaking. If not I would make sure its not.

[Chryco Psycho]

if ti runs great without the vacuum advance why hook it up at all ?

[deathcharger71]

if ti runs great without the vacuum advance why hook it up at all ?

i thought about that....will it hurt the performance at all?

[dodge freak]

It won't hurt anything but maybe your gas milage. I threw mine out a long time ago. In fact you can go to the auto store and get a pickup plate for the dist. that has no advance on it. It keeps the timing steady. I think its for the lean burn cars, 1978,79. only about $15.00 or so. It might be better for the motor, won't want to ping as easy. When you are pushing your way down the street and are going on the gas off the gas over and over that vacuum advance can't keep up and you timing gets off. It does no good  at all  if you have light springs and have all of your timing in by 2500 or so. All it needs is 35-38 degrees to run right not 45. You can run that much if you are not push the motor hard, but then if you punch it you have too much timing for a second or two. I would put the lightest springs in you can run with out pinging in third gear when you have your timing set at about 37 degrees.

[TylerCharger69]

69chargeryeehaa ....That's a cool link  for the tune-up tip site.   I also  printed that out for future personal use...Very in-depth!!!    Thanks!!!

[deathcharger71]

after all this time of wondering why my engine crapped out at 5000 rpm and sounded like a rev limiter...i disconnected my vacuum advance and took it for a drive and hammered it, my tires just kept spinning and when the finally caught it reved to 6000 in a hurry! absolutely no hesitation! man im i glad i finally fixed that problem.

[deputycrawford]

Vacum advance was used for fuel milage only. If you have a performance oriented anything then throw the vacum advance out and never look back.     Im starting to like these smilely face things.

[TylerCharger69]

Discard the vacuum advance.....hmmmmmmm........I'm going to try that and see what results I have.   I never thought of that before....

[dodge freak]

Just make sure you adjust the advance afterwards. They sell light springs for the dist. , at first put in one light and one heavy and drive it around in third gear or overdrive for you lucky guys and see if the motor pings at all. If not maybe wait a few days to make sure its not and then try both light ones. With both light springs the advance should come in all the way around 2500 rpms. By having the right springs in it the timing is not to retarded and your gas mileage won't be too much lower. Might even make a little more mid-range power.

[69chargeryeehaa]

Vacum advance was used for fuel milage only. If you have a performance oriented anything then throw the vacum advance out and never look back.     Im starting to like these smilely face things.

that's the easy way out, but there is absoultly no reason why if it is'nt properly adjusted that it can be hooked up even in a performance application, after all with today's gas prices you can really benifit from the extra 2mpg with the vacuum advance hooked up.  adjust it properly and it does'nt affect WOT performance since there is no manifold vacuum at WOT and does'nt do anything to overall performance except improve economy.  i got mine adjusted perfectly, and i would never disconnect it.

[dodge freak]

Well I know on my engine I have both light springs in it and have around 38 degrees of advance by about 2000 rpms. If I give it any more advance I can see the engine start to shake and hear it slow down the more I advance it. In fact I have adjusted the timing a few times now just by look and listening to it, I then hooked up the timing light and it was right about 38 degrees . Maybe if you have a high compression motor and or high gears-3.23-2.73- you might not be able to use the lightest springs and give it alot of gas without it pinging then the vacuum might help out by adding more advance only when the throttle is open just a little ways..

[deathcharger71]

i know i need to adjust the vacuum advance so i can use it again, but for now im stoked. i thought ide never see what shes capable of