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| When shining the timing light at the front pulley, you freeze the crank motion on this. By seeing where the timing pointer lines up, you can tell where your spark plug is firing. You rotate your distributor or crank angle sensor to set the timing where you want it. Photo from NICO.com |
Now that you’re armed with some working knowledge, you might want to try this easy performance tip. A good low buck modification for you beginning performance nuts is to advance your timing a few degrees. Generally the factories’ recommended timing settings are set on the conservative side so people that run 87 octane fuel will not experience detonation. You can fill your tank with 91 or higher octane and advance your timing a few degrees over the factory recommended limit. On older cars this is easily done by turning the distributor or crank angle sensor.
If you go more than 4 degrees advanced from the factory spec, use extreme caution. Do not tolerate any detonation at all. Detonation can damage your engine so don’t let it go on for more than a second or two. If you hear the telltale ping or metallic ring, back off the gas at once. Refer to your factory service manual for the exact instruction on how to adjust the timing. Use a timing light and do it right. Never just turn the distributor and pray.
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| On some late model cars like Toyota produces, the only way to tune them is to integrate a stand alone ECU like the AEM EMS into the stock engine management system. This is best left to pros. Really good pros. |
On many late model cars, the timing is not easily user adjustable. Oh well… In this case you have to use more difficult measures to adjust timing. On some cars such as the Mitsubishi EVO and Subaru WRX and STI the timing is adjustable via reflashing the ECU. You can use a device such as the Cobb Access Port or open source shareware such as ECU Flash to remap the engine control parameters. On Nissans you can use UpRev’s solution for reflashing the ECU or companies like Jim Wolf Technology can do it for you. Hondata offers user programmable modified Honda ECU’s.
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| On most late model cars, the timing is not easily user adjustable, you will have to alter the ECU’s timing table using some advanced techniques and devices. |
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| The Cobb AccesssPORT can be used to tune many late model cars. |
