what distributor should i use?

[jerome]

Just to let you know I'am running 16 degrees advanced base timing with my carburated set up with a mechanical vacuum advance distributor from an s-10 and if that means that im sitting around 41 degrees advanced then hell yeah holly actually recommends that extra timing due to a little extra fuel. but yeah it runs like a raped ape compared to before and I've had this set up for almost 2 years and i drive the shit out of it so I don't know if he is going to have these detrimental issue you guys speak of but I'm sure of it that he will need to be running some premium fuel to be safe.

[geoffinbc]

Running that much timing points to and inefficient burn. It is true you would get away with it with low compression (or too low for a specific cam) and high octane fuel. But that is very inefficient. You would make more power (and loose less to pumping loss) if you went with a low octane fuel and regular timing.

The less timing it takes to make maximum power the better.

[jerome]

I'm going to have to disagree power is made by pushing detonation to the brink. why do you think they applied knock sensors to cars.. it wasn't just to detect bad fuel it was so you can run with as much timing as possible. and only to the first approximation is it going to be a power loss, torque is a by product of turbulence one of the main reasons of the 2 valve set up other than manufacturing reasons is because of the inherent turbulence of the geometry. But I will agree that you can run too much timing but with the 8.5 to 8.9 to 1 Idk if I will agree that 15 base is to much. and ie an 81 turbo l28 with stock 7.5 to 1 compression is running 20 base timing with 8 pound of boost is that to much? would u suggest to detune the octane and timing to make more power...? Idk I think that goes completely against the whole concept of power adding and performance and if it was the case I don't believe you would have 104 and 108 octane avalable near most drag strips with these dudes running 13-15 to 1 compression trying to get all the timing they can if it wasn't helping or was the wrong path to go.

[34blazer]

I'm going to have to disagree power is made by pushing detonation to the brink. why do you think they applied knock sensors to cars.. it wasn't just to detect bad fuel it was so you can run with as much timing as possible. and only to the first approximation is it going to be a power loss, torque is a by product of turbulence one of the main reasons of the 2 valve set up other than manufacturing reasons is because of the inherent turbulence of the geometry. But I will agree that you can run too much timing but with the 8.5 to 8.9 to 1 Idk if I will agree that 15 base is to much. and ie an 81 turbo l28 with stock 7.5 to 1 compression is running 20 base timing with 8 pound of boost is that to much? would u suggest to detune the octane and timing to make more power...? Idk I think that goes completely against the whole concept of power adding and performance and if it was the case I don't believe you would have 104 and 108 octane avalable near most drag strips with these dudes running 13-15 to 1 compression trying to get all the timing they can if it wasn't helping or was the wrong path to go.

whats your point? i ran 26* total timing with 24 lbs of boost in my turbo regal? thats a different engine all together, what does that have to do with the 660? you start running over 36* total timing in the 2.8 youre running the risk of detonation. you may not hear it all the time but the knock sensor does, do you have any sort of datalogs from your car? and im sure BTY is very familiar with the flow characteristics of the ironhead considering he is the source of alot of performance information on these engines. the only way i would consider running that much timing is after i fully ported and polished my heads and combustion chambers. the OP doesnt have any major mods other than a few bolt ons...

[geoffinbc]

High octane fuel is not designed so you can pour it in the tank and run gobs of timing. it is designed for high compression engines to resist detonation. And yes it will burn slower and allow for more timing to be introduced if you want. But its a waste of money and horsepower

The reason for ignition advance is so you get maximum pressure by the time the cylinder hits TDC and begins the power stroke and also to give enough time for all the fuel to burn. The instant the spark hits the fuel begins to burn however the cylinder is still traveling upward on its compression stroke yet the burning fuel is generating heat and expanding gases although they are not at full force yet. The engine as a whole must overcome this pumping loss in order to get the piston to the top of the cylinder and begin the power stroke. Until that happens every event before hand is a parasitic loss.

So if you can reduce timing to a minimum there is less pumping loss. But there is a happy medium between compression, cam, head design and spark advance versus detonation. So run the lowest octane fuel you can to avoid detonation with the least amount of spark advance and you will find the engines maximum potential.

Dumping 94 octane in a 9:1 compression engine and running 40* of total advance is going to make you LOSE power and waste money. Putting it in a 11:1 compression engine is going to save your engine but you will be running a normal 32 to 36* of advance.

Ever wonder why head designers brag about making more power with less spark advance? Because its proof of efficient combustion that does not need a ton of ignition advance make power.

[jwvess00]

Hi there!

As a data point, according to the factory tach. in my 2.8V6 S-10, the factory redline is 5500 RPM.

Distributors do not lend themselves to lots of timing. You really need to be running a DIS setup if you're going to run tons of timing. It is possible to adapt the stock DIS system to a TBI / distributor engine but it takes some chip work.

Knock sensors are installed on cars as a failsafe part -- this keeps them from destroying themselves over time. It is *not* part of regular timing control and should not be used as such. If you're getting a lot of knock counts, your timing is too high for your heads/cam/compression/fuel/timing.

[gsEnterpries]

WOW!! I have been a mechanic for about 10yrs now with 6yrs and counting as a professional(full-time work), there are only two people that make any sense to me, "betterthanyou" and "34blazer". As far as revving a 660 that high is out there to say the least. I've built my fair share of sohc Hondas and those take some work to get up there as well but can be done. If you have a realistic question to ask, ask it, otherwise don't bother because you will OWNED!!