Technical 235 acting up

If your question was directed at me, no the distributor didn't loosen up, it was probably semi-loose because not having a timing light, I used to do my timing by the "ping" method: loosen the distributor enough that I could turn it by hand, advance it somewhat, then lug the motor in 3rd gear and keep retarding the ignition until the pinging stopped. Real scientific, I know. It's called "Trial and Error". The error was that I probably forgot to retighten the distributor clamp. Duh. It's not easy going through life stupid and without a timing light. That's the "Trial" part.

 

On timing - don't lug it in 3rd - start out normal in low, shift to second at 12 - 15 mph & slowly (like over 4 -5 seconds) open it all the way … go for more or less lead from what you hear.
Hint : start at zero & work up ...

 

Yeah, that's more or less how it was done. I'd get it pretty close at first and then just drive it normally for the next few days and listen for any pinging on hills or merging onto highways and keep fine tuning. When I did eventually put a light on it it was real close.

 

That's called "precision fine tuning" and can only be preformed by pros!

 

Some people use dynos and computers, I use cheap gas. But we all get there.