That's great news. It sounds like the 1920 was the main problem. Congrats! Have you measured the advance curve on your dist with a dialback timing light?

Best,
Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

It sure seems like the 1920 was the main smoking gun.

I haven't fully mapped out my curve, but I have checked a couple things to make sure my advance mechanisms were moving back when I first put the engine in the car.

My timing seems to kick in around 1000-1200 rpms. I know my timing is all in by 3600 rpms and is 35 degrees with the vacuum advance disconnected and plugged. With the vacuum advance plugged in I get 54 degrees.

I pulled the distributor apart to clean it and see how it was set up. It seems I have the factory springs in it and a 13.5 governor in it. I plan to order a spring kit and play with the springs when I've got some time.

I did find that the vacuum advance pod comes in late. It starts at 12" of vacuum. I swapped it out for a known good unit I had laying around that starts at 6" of vacuum and provides the same amount of advance so we will see what that does.

Doug Dutra's Slant-6 distributor recurve article from 1988 is here.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Looks like sensible numbers. Personally, I would weld a little into the mech adv slots and bring the idle advance up slightly (2-5 deg) and total mech advance down slightly (around 32 deg). Yes, maybe mess with the springs a bit too. Remind me: stock cam and compression?

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

I'll take a look at that recurving article this evening.

Yes it still has the stock cam and I'd assume stock compression ratio. The shop that built my engine said they didn't have to take much off the head or block.

I'm going to look around my parts stash and see if I have any other governors kicking around. I would like to see the mechanical advance come down just a hair. I will probably take care of that when I actually recurve this distributor, which will hopefully be an over the winter project.

As of right now with the new advance can, the car is a little more spunky and can keep up with traffic off a stop light, so I'd say that's a plus.