I had the k5 305 set to the factory 4deg and it was about 15deg with the advanced hook up to manifold vaccum. I have now bumped it to 25deg with vaccum hooked and she has way more power/response and still does not ping with low grade fuel.
pauly383k10 said:Vacuum goes ported . I bet you if you put it to ported it will ping at part throttle . Mileage will improve though .
Mine hates advance with low octane .

diesel4me said:Some years and models ran manifold vacuum to the vacuum advance..My 86 305 motor in my 79 C10 seems to run better and smoother with manifold vacuum rather than ported..If I use ported vacuum it pings..I think its because the motor originally had the "ESC" Hei distributor and electric Q-jet carb,and I ditched both and used a 1976 305 HEI with vacuum advance and an Edelbrock 600 cfm performer carb--which wouldn't fit without removing the EGR valve,-(the EGR helps prevent pinging by lowering the comvustion temparature--but kills a bit of power too)--and using an adapter to the stock intake..those "ESC" distributors ran a lot of advance,using the module's "advance curve",and the computer..
I bet the actual amount of advance the canister delivers isn't that much different at cruising speed with ported VS manifold vacuum,and with manifold vacuum it RETARDS the spark when you floor it,(kills the advance from the canister anyway)-and the mechanical advance weights take over..my truck idles much smoother with it fully advanced at idle,it still gets SOME advance at cruise,and it wont ping wide open like before without the additional vacuum advance with ported vacuumm--I swear its better on gas too!..
If I knew how I would have just left the "ESC" distributor intact--I think the van I got the motor from had a computer--I didn't want to mess with all that nightmare...I drove the van before I stripped the motor out--It was a bit peppier than my C10,but not much--I think it was less weight that made the difference more than anything..I can still smoke the tires with it in my truck fairly easy--my truck is light in the rear--it will swap ends if you punch it around a corner ,especially if its wet out..![]()
All this said,all I can say is try both ported AND manifold vacuum,and see which way it seems best for your motor..the ported "port" on a Q-jet is on the front of the carb,higher than the throttle butterflies--it will have no vacuum at idle,and it will just above idle..a vacuum gauge makes finding it easy..![]()
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