Technical timing my new flattie

Finally got the 8BA going in the Coudan.....and realized I have no clue what to set the timing at. Using Bubbas elec chev dist. With Jim not at full speed, looking for input. Fired right up, sounded good, but like to know what others set timing at with a 8BA, Merc crank, 2 97s, Edelbrock 8.5, Schneider 248-F, a pretty mild cam. .350 lift, 220 duration at .050 lift. Seemed to get hot, 190 plus after just 2-3 minutes running. Timing suggestions welcome!!

 

Well, the first question is how do you actually know where the timing is? Do you have the front pulley marked in any way - did you use a degree wheel to set things up? If you don't know WHERE the timing is, kind of hard to give you instructions as to what to set it to.

 

A vacuum gauge should work really well if you don't have the tools otherwise.

 

I just finished doing this with the '51 Merc in my '51 club coupe, my engine is modified (heads, carb, and Mallory dual point), although not as much as yours. I set mine with a vacuum gauge. Once it's running, advance the ignition until the vacuum gauge reads the highest, and the retard it just a little, until the vacuum reading starts to drop. That should get you to a reasonable initial advance. After that, you should check total advance. you should be aiming for 22-24 degrees all in at about 2800 rpm. You can find this by using a good "dial-back" timing light or perhaps a marked crankshaft pulley (I have 24 degrees marked on mine.) If you have a lot of variance, you might have to change the advance curve, though with one of Jim's distributors, it should be right on. I believe that "Bubba"'s distributors are usually straight mechanical, with no vacuum advance. If you should happen to have a distributor with vacuum advance, someone else may have to jump in here.

I use this technique to set the initial advance on all modified engines I have, because changing cams, compression, and other factors alters the proper settings from factory specs.

 

8ba should have a pointer built into the timing cover set on the dot and use a dial back to check total should be 11 in dist or 22 on crank all in by 2000 dot is 2-4 adv and 22 gives ya 26 total................. if someone removed pointer ya need to find TDC make new pointer and go from there

 

I run a total of 24 - 26 degrees of advance . . . though I run a magneto with 16 in the mag and the rest as initial.

 

sounds good to me Dale.................