retard or advance the timing?

to get some good power gains should i retard or advance the timing, how many degrees, and how would i go about doing this? Help please?
matt

i have exaust, intake and a header

i never saw anybody with retarded timing !

MIKE

my buddy owns a civic with an aem cam gear, and he messes with it all the time. he seems to run better at the track with his timing retarded.

I think maybe he's retarded! Is he running forced induction? That's the only reason why I would see a retarded timing be a benefit. Advancing is the way to go, except you better run good gas or be real careful...it will cause your car to ping if too far advanced (like mine).

BoredRec

so help me here, how would i advance it? i have to stop when i hear pinging and back it off a little right? but how do i even begin?

how?????????

Mine is advanced all the way. Pings like crazy. I need to retard it a tad bit.

Loosen the bolts for the distributor. Turn the distributor ccw for advance and cw for retard (I think). If not, do the opposite. Make sure you retighten the bolts when yer all done.

Also make sure your vacuum advance is working. I'd tell you how to check it to make sure, but i can't remember how to right now.

BoredRec

is missing with the distributer advancing my timing? or my spark? Thanks

i have advanced timing. it was pinning like crazy. went to pepboys got a accel coil. increased spark plag gap and it went away. it does a little when i putt to the floor.

in my opinion , don't mess with your timing ! :D
doing it wrong could harm the engine ! :(

MIKE

did you advance it by your distributer? can you feel a difference?

well, i was messing with timming before i putt the coil. i was using the timing light and for someunknown reason i couldn't set it. i followed the manual and still nothing. so i used my ears, GOD's help.
it was pinning were bad. but now it is gone. i notticed a lot of improvement. my idling is a lot smother, i used to missing one spark when i was idling. it is a lot better reaction on high RPM.
i can run to 6G with no problem.
over all accel coil and advenced timming is good, very good.

how, do i advance my timing? please show me:sadwave:

How much is an accel coil?

If you're gonna get a coil, get a MSD....I don't have much faith in Accel...sure, it works, but MSD is better quality.

ok,
i got accel coil for $29.99 plus tax.
if you don't have NGK spark plugs, i would recoment getting them. plus NGK spark wires.
on the picture you can see which direction to retart or advanced.
if you gonna do it with out timming light, don't forget make a mark so you can always go back to original setting.

thank you:werd:

Hello guys
I have a question:when my car get to the normal temp i have a
lot less power and the car make ping when i floor it can its be
the timing that is to far advanced??
thanks