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Timing Adjustment

2714 Views 6 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  Rhoad Racing
Has anybody ever adjusted their timing by losing that bolt underneath the distributor cap and turning the distributor? (for those of you that know what i'm talking about) Don't you have to be running high octane through before you do this? For those that have done it, did it really make any kind of difference?

Thanks
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if ur not running any Forced Induction u dont need to do it. it will acutally run like shit if u arent FI. and if you do it u need a timing gun to measure the advance or retard degrees in timing. im running a nx stage 1 nitrous kit and im planning to get a msd 6 digital to automatically advance my timing when im spraying and automatically set it back when im not spraying.
I was also wondering if advancing or retarding the timing would really help your car that much. I have done a search on this and have basically figured out that the most you will gain from this mod would be about 2 or 3 horses. Is this accurate and would you reccomend doing it? Alos are there any side effect for doing this.

thanks
The only thing you need to watch with that is the need to run a higher octane to stop detonation. I am currently running 19 degrees instead of 15, also running 98.1 octane which is the highest possible in the UK. Be careful it can end in tears:eek: :)
well when you mess with your that you either goinng to advance or retard the timing. Y ou cant free up hp IMO I believe that you just move power from one area to another. I think when you advance you take away from teh top end and give to the lower end and when you retard it you take away from the low end and give to the top end. I think thats how this works in Lame man terms. Correcct me if im wrong
advancing the timing by turning the distributor cap can only be done on 95 and older accords, the obd II cars can't.

yes you will gain power, especially in the lower end of the rpm range. i set mine with a timing gun, but i think that no matter what the computer restricts max advance to about 19-20 degrees. i say that because i turned the distributor as far as i could for advance and it only came out to like 19-21 degrees BDTC... it's a bitch to try and tell exact timing, there are no marks other than a few blotches of paint on the crank pulley a white one at TDC, and a blue/red one at stock advance... beyond that you have to guess. at least my buddies mustang had a nice scale right on the pulley.

the easy way to advance your timing (on my F22B1, 95 accord). loosen the three bolts holding the distributor cap down (don't remove them) and turn the cap counterclockwise, the top towards the firewall. you may want to check your manual and see which way your distributor rotor turns, and turn your cap the opposite way. you probably want to have a nice fresh tank of 92 or higher (although i recently made a trip through california in july [hot] and had to use 91 and i didn't ping once). since the F22 series has a relatively low compression ratio, pre-ignition and detonation aren't a huge concern. you may also want to get new COPPER plugs and keep an eye on them for the first couple days and check for signs of pre-ignition. that said, i'm running about 20 degrees btdc, on 92 octane without incident for the last year.

the whole moving power up or down the curve comes from advancing or retarding the camshaft timing. generally advancing will give you good low end but poor high end, and vice versa. advancing ignition timing will give you a nice gain all the way through.

was that long enough?
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I agree with the above.....be careful when/if you advance. However, I had a very good experience when I first adv. mine. Before advancing my car would run only 11.6 in 1/8th (shitty). On that very same night, I advanced and ran a whole second faster.:D Now....advancing didn't give me that much more power, but it enabled my car to hook much better off the block.

Here's a link that may help you out.
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