Originally Posted by madscientist
Originally Posted by CMcAllister
Originally Posted by madscientist
Originally Posted by fast68plymouth
Unless there is an electronic “box” that’s providing some sort of “curve”, everyone running a crank trigger has the timing locked out.


So? Does that mean it’s what the engine really wants? I doubt it, as most engines I know want a curve of some sort.


Why? Drag race? I've never had a drag race engine run at anywhere below 5000, after the hit, unless it was on the stop for .90 racing for a few seconds. Most of the time, they are well above 3k before the hit.

Unless it's a street driven, foot brake non-two stepped or Heavy Eliminator deal, I don't know anyone else who would spend any amount of time below 3K.

Now I do know people who need to use timing retard for any number of reasons at different places on the race track.



So I are saying an engine doesn’t need a timing curve as long as the RPM is 5000-9000k? I don’t see it that way.


Why would it?

Why not baseline it at max timing and control any desired retard from there electronically according to when and why it is desired? That's what most people are doing.

Pulling power out of it is the only reason to pull timing on a race situation. Taking the ignition trigger out of the distributor and putting it on the crank is always better. If you can't do that, a locked distributor is the next best option. Although, you will still have timing chain slack, cam twist, gear clearance, oil pump load, etc., causing some degree of scatter to deal with.

If the results don't match the theory, change the theory.