I have a 305 SBC and it "Pings" At idle it is smooth and throw it in neutral rev it up and it is fine also. Going up a hill she pings 1) It has Edelbrock Carb & Edelbrock Manifold WITHOUT AN "EGR" 2) Will the lack of an EGR make the motor ping? 3) Must I replace the manifold with one that has EGR OR what can I do ??? Will different plugs allow me to solve problem without changing the manifold
Pinging under a load is usually a timing issue. Where is your timing initially set at and what RPM does full advance come in?
Check initial timing, check max timing, are the weight springs in the dist ok ( what sort of distributor?) . What fuel ? Compression test? Is it Smokey? What carb?
Increase fuel octane rating. Decrease compression. Decrease operating temperature (if it seems to be too high). Retard ignition timing. If you don't have one already, consider a distributor with vacuum advance. Manifold vacuum decreases with engine load which in turn reduces ignition advance. Might help to have more info about what the engine is in. Weight? Gearing? Tow vehicle? Transmission? All these things affect engine load, and as the load increases so does the tendency to ping.
Yes EGR will reduce pinging most 305s were not very high compression around 8.5 unless you have an LU5 motor at 9.5 It most likely is carbon or timing try a can of sea foam first or better yet GM top engine cleaner 1#1050002.
On a 305 or any small block. If Im going to tune it. First thing I do Is grab the front pulley and rock the harmonic balancer back and forth to check for slop in the timing chain and gears. You cannot tune a engine with a loose timing set. Those cheep low quality roller chains are worse than the nylon gear sets. Next be certain the vacuum and centrifical advances are working. Then pull the plugs and read them are they white from too lean a fuel mix? Or black from too rich. Things like plug gap and cond of plug wires need to be correct.
Most passenger car ones were a 8.2 or 8.6 CR. They would probably run on sterno. I would bet on timing more than anything, of course we are once again working on a mystery without any clues.
Need to slow down the vacuum advance with the EGR disconnected. had the same problem with my 400 77 F250. On Fords you use an allen wench in the vacuum hole of the distributer vacuum advance mechanism to slow it down, dont know what you do on Chevys