Well my distributor was off the marks, the adapter plate was in the wrong place. So that screwed up all my other readings,

with that fixed, the engine idling at 1050rpm(about the lowest I can get this engine to idle without it stumbling)

the static timing set at 5* I take the revs up slowly and at 3200rpm there is no more movement of the timing mark and the timing light is reading 30* that sounds right doesn't?

Here's a pic of the centrifugal weights, one spring is much lighter then the other, not sure if this is the way it came stock or if someone has been modifying.

Edited November 4, 201311 yr by grannyknot

Well sounds right - now drive it and see what happens. You might have had way too much advance in there . Those compression numbers aren't that high by the way.

I think the springs shold be the same for rotational stability.

They are the same on stock,

The lighter spring may be some weird 2 stage racing mod to slow the initial advance at the sacrifice of stability and wear.

I mark my pulley at 32 and 34 degrees advance with paint. Then I rev the engine till the marks max out while shooting it with a standard timing light. With non protruding plugs (eg: NGK B8ES) and high octane fuel, I adjust the timing to 34 degrees at full advance. With protruding plugs (eg: NGK BP8ES) or lower octane gas, I dial the timing back to the 32 mark at full advance.

Now, this is for a road racing engine that spends most all its time at full advance so idle timing is unimportant. At least the method I use gives you an easy way of checking max advance. BTW, don't let your timing get above 34.