total timing?

[72240Z]

I finally threw a timing light on my 240 this weekend and discovered timing was set at 0* initial. I checked my reference manual, an old Haynes, and it listed 17* for an L24 without emissions equipment, and 10* for cars with, depending on dist part number. I checked my dist, and found that I have a factory reman that doesn't match up with any given numbers. I set the initial at 10*, which gave me a total of about 35* with centrifugal, and 43* total with vacuum. Is this appropriate with a bone stock engine, or should I be looking for more?

Devin

[Linkstar07]

Thats what I set mine at and I run 87 octane no problem. I set my total timing to 34* and the initial ended up being 10*. You probably gained a couple ponies advancing it 10*. does it run any better?

[72240Z]

I've had this car for 5 years now, my parents were the original owners. As such, I've had to do very little to it in that time. It had always been maintained at the locla dealer where it was bought new, but unfortunatley over the years the skills to maintain it were lost. Even though I do work at a Nissan Dealer, there's nobody left now that was around when these were actually on the road. Most of my tuning experience is in Chevys, and 36-38* total works well for them. I didn't know where L24s are happy, with the aluminum head and 8.8:1 compression. Increasing the initial to 10* did increase low speed driveability, likely due to more vacuum. It's not pinging at this point. I may try increasing the total a little at a time in order to take it as far as I can, but it may not necessarily make best power there. I don't have a dyno locally to find out for sure. I was hoping there was a general rule for these motors.

Devin