Moparts

To Lock or Not to Lock

Posted By: prostreet68

To Lock or Not to Lock - 08/23/11 03:59 AM

I have my 400 finally running in my 68 Dart. I wanted to get some idea of that you folks do to the distributors. Do you lock them out or change the springs so that you get total timing real early.
The motor is 10:1 and I am using a Powermaster mini starter. It should be real simple to lock this HEI out. This is one of those HEI conversions from Mancini Racing.
My engine builder said try about 34* total and then work from there.

What do you folks say.

Thank you
Rick
Posted By: JD Dart

Re: To Lock or Not to Lock - 08/23/11 04:13 AM

Do you street drive it? If you do don't lock it, Drag race only then maybe lock it. If it were me I would change springs to have total timing in before your converter is at full stall speed.
Posted By: prostreet68

Re: To Lock or Not to Lock - 08/23/11 04:47 AM

Its a 4 speed car and it is a 99.99% street car. Where can I order the lite springs?
This HEI has the vacuum advance canister on it as well. Is there something special that I need to do to this as well? I have been told that the soon full advance comes in the better the car runs.
Posted By: 8urvette

Re: To Lock or Not to Lock - 08/23/11 05:44 AM

i locked mine out, for a big cam big inch motor it runs real good. mostly street car, soon to be a 4 speed.
Posted By: rebel

Re: To Lock or Not to Lock - 08/23/11 05:47 AM

mines also locked but i have a timing computer so it don't start at full advance & give my starter motor a hard time.
Posted By: prostreet68

Re: To Lock or Not to Lock - 08/23/11 05:53 AM

I have heard the same thing from some other guys that by locking out the timing....the car idles so much better. The cam is like the old 509 Purple cam.
I see where I can get the little bracket to lock it out for about $8

What else do I need to do?
Posted By: Thumperdart

Re: To Lock or Not to Lock - 08/23/11 06:04 AM

Locked out here too.............works fine at 12.1 comp.
Posted By: moparniac

Re: To Lock or Not to Lock - 08/23/11 10:18 AM

Locked here! I did have the start retard hooked up but my box pulls out 20* and it would give me' fits starting bla! My buddy sent his back to msd and they adjusted it to only pull out 10* and I may go that route.
Posted By: Cab_Burge

Re: To Lock or Not to Lock - 08/23/11 04:41 PM

I shorten the mechanical advance up in my distributos(all Mopars, don't know how on yours ) so I have 16 to 18 degrees in it and set the initial timing to 16 to 18 depending on how much total timing I want for that motor I have made the mistake of making to little mechanical advance in the ditributor and then had to fight the motor starting when hot, because it would kick back That really puts a strain on the starter motor, battery and ring gear I ended up filing the slots longer to add more advance on that one
Posted By: MR_P_BODY

Re: To Lock or Not to Lock - 08/23/11 06:36 PM

I prefer to use a advance on my stuff... the only
time I lock it is if its advancing where the idle
is being affected... that makes it hard to set the
idle if its changing timing... if the dist is working
without any issues(like sticky weights) then I cant
see why you would want it locked out... a street car
I would never lock it and I might be looking for a
vac advance also to go along with the mech advance
Posted By: prostreet68

Re: To Lock or Not to Lock - 08/24/11 12:24 AM

OK...just about decided to run this setup for a while so I can recover from money spent.
What should the initial timing be set to? Car has never had a timing light hooked to it..I know that is dumb. The car fires up on the first try cold and does the same thing when its up to temp or even little warm.
This thing starts so nice...timing must be real close. I dont have a digital timing lite or tape around harmonic balance right now. I need to set that before I set the carb up(4 corner idle mixture). I talked to Kevin(CSU) said that with the way it is starting...the adjustment is real close.
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