timing

[adamforsythe]

Hello,
Well I forked over the 45 bucks to get a timing gun. I put it on my truck and my timing is so far out of wack it's not even funny. I need to advance the timing a lot. The mark is about 4-41/2 inch's before top dead. But if I advance it any more the engine pings like a SOB. Now I know I have to move a gear. Now do I move the dizzy back a gear or up a gear?

I wonder what kind of HP I am going to be making when I get this fixed
Thanks
Adam

 

[Guss]

Your Gonna Want To Remove The Cap First Then Take The Dist. Hold Down Off. After Thats Loose You Should Be Able To Hold Rotor With One Hand And Dist. Housing With Other. Lift Up Until You Can Feel The Rotor Turn. By Doing So You Should Be Able To Feel The Teeth Mesh And Unmesh And Youl Be Able To Feel One Tooth At A Time With Some Finess. Im Sure Thers Other Ways Of Doing This But I Have To Feel Every Thing I Do......also Before You Start I Would Mark Were The Dist Is To The Block And Where The Rotor Is To The Dist.

 

[southernspeed]

If your truck is running and goes worse when you alter the timing then you're doing something wrong. Have you pulled off and plugged the vac advance?
Have you checked that the mark on your damper corresponds with actual TDC?