Just raise it up until you air condition the block then back it down half a degree! But really it depends on the setup, I've gone pretty quick on 9 degrees of timing as well as 18 degrees just depends on the compression, fuel, cam, single vs twin, intercooled or not, etc etc. I see a lot of guys start above where the engine wants to be and it bites them so I start low and work it up. Sloppy used to say 14psi/14* was a good starting point and its ok for some, not others just depends as some setups want 14* on 32lbs and others want 10* on 16lbs. The bonus to starting low is you wont blow it up first pass and you'll get to have some fun as it gets faster vs some guys that go out on kill first hit. If your source of FI can move some air you'll still go pretty quick even on low timing, one of my SBE's saw 30+lbs from an 80 and 88mm and 12* and it lived way too long. If you check your plugs, watch your fuel usage, monitor knock, etc you'll get a good idea of what's going on inside your engine and where its happy place is.

 

I consider my timing pretty safe. I’d rather add 2 psi than 2 degrees (you get the point).

 

Yup, unless your turbo is maxed out or boost is just damn high already. Can raise and lower timing as needed though, for instance at a prepped track you can raise timing a bit on spool up from your street tune and really get a good hit, but somewhere like a no prep event we pull a bunch out to get it to hook. Adjusting timing is faster then adjusting boost for traction and same with ramping it back in on most setups. Just depends what you're trying to do.

 

Agreed on all points

 

I WISH I KNEW TUNING sucks

 

Start by looking at how carb'd engines with distributors work, check out mechanical advance curves for 60-80's engines
couple hours of that then jump to the EFI manuals,
Megasquirt, AEM, Haltech, Go to their websites and download their manuals and read 150+ pages each

And that should take the rest of the day(s) and get you ready to... break something. So use the knowledge on a test engine.

 

800-1000 starting with a 5.3?

You'd be looking at something like this:

https://ls1tech.com/forums/vehicle-c...a-1051whp.html

 

My belief is when you get into this, you should learn to tune.
What EFI system are you thinking?

Ron

 

I'm sure none of my bottom end issues are due to timing. I run 17 degrees.
Hard to do much of a curve with the stock ECU given the axis available for RPM.
Unless you have an uber tight converter or a stick shift. And even then it only applies in low gear.
Mine goes to 5800 at the hit, 7000 max. So where is pk torque?

I've never chased timing.

Ron

 

Just received the holley terminator. might go thru those HPacad videos of tuning.

 

the holley is a great place to start! very straightforward in it's approach to fueling.

 

So with oem ecu you’re at 17 degrees regardless of the boost? I’m not familiar with the factory ecu stuff.

 

Correct. Takes about 7 psi to hit the bottom row of the timing table.
So for differing boost levels, takes a different tune

 

Its very easy to tune whatever timing you want using OEM ecu because it has so many adjustments to take advantage of

for example, I capitalized on afr tables for timing advance feature:

 

what is the column axis of that table, EQ?

 

yep its showing timing adjustments vs [desired a/f ratio (columns) x RPM (rows)]

Very handy to pull timing with increasing A/F ratio richness, the graph I show is decent example which shows pulling more for peak torque, a trend which also is established in the main timing table (they overlap)

In the same tab you can also adjust timing vs other things, theres one for IAT for example which I also found quite useful since the IAT can be manually adjusted from the cabin via variable resistor. This gives a dial on the dash which can adjust timing trims in real-time without re-programming the computer.

theres all kinds of ways to use this stuff

 

Wait till you tune one for street duty with a t56. I envy the simplicity of your 1200rpm timing window.

 

i cant find that table anywhere in the OS's I use. weird.

 

Switch to speed density... lots of benefits.

 

17 degrees is perfect for 30psi.