305 timing?

[bigbadchev84]

i am working on a 2wd 84 chevy with a 305/700r4, his son replaced the timing chain in it befroe he went off to college and didnt get the dots lined up. well i pulled it apart and sure enough it was about 4 teeth off. well i reinstalled it straight up and now my question is what should i set the timing at? this is a completely unmolested engine, and looks just like the day it came out of the factory. well the sticker on the front says 4degrees timing but it is really doggish. any suggestions?

 

[pauly383]

If you have to run emissions soon , put it at 4 degrees . I just ran my emissions a few weeks ago and have yet to put it back , but it isn't really that doggish on my end ............ stage 1 q-jet

If you want to get the best performance , advance it until it pings under load , and back it off until it doesn't .

 

[bigbadchev84]

well it does have emissons equipment on it but i dont have to worry about it passing or anything like that, what is the most common timing seting? 6, 8, 10, 12 degrees?

 

[pauly383]

It just depends on the whole combo , but a stock engine I would go a little at a time . Try 6 to start and 8 if it don't ping at 6 etc .

If you had the time and effort you could try different mechanical advance springs and weight to get the mechanical all in at the right rpm ( can't tell ya right rpm , depends on all vehicles parameters ) , and try an adjustable vacuum advance so you can back it off a bit at part throttle so you can run a bit more intial ( static ) timing without pinging .