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timing and cranking a 383 chevy

25K views 16 replies 7 participants last post by  Icelander 
#1 ·
Hi, i have a chevy 383, 10,5 compression, iron heads with 200cc intake ports, and the cam is comp 280 magnum, 230@0,50 and 480 lift, and HEI ignition. when it idles best the timing is 18 degree and that is at 900-1000 rpm and the total is 38 degree, OK i was told that these are fair and normal figures but it punches the living hell out of the starter when im cranking her up, OK i can buy me self a high torque mini starter but wont he get the same punishment as this one ? And another thing it seems like the engine performs better with the vacuum advance blinded ?! this cam can barely be used with power brakes, OK can be fixed with a canister but will that somehow help the vacuum advance on the distributor ? Hmmm ? HELP please ?
Thanks in advance. Kristofer.
 
#4 ·
one thing to check is see if your distributor has up and down play in it if it does what can happen is when the eng is off it drops down and because of the angle of the teeth on the gear it advances the distributor so it goes to 22 deg or whatever more than you set it at. As soon as it starts it lifts up and retards it to your 18 deg and you can never see it happen. Take the cap off and the rotor and without moving the centrifigal advance move the distr shaft clockwise and counter clockwise and see how much play it has. I find gm dist have allot of play and I make a shim to take up the play and helps with this exact problem.
 
#8 ·
Icelander said:
Hi, i have a chevy 383, 10,5 compression, iron heads with 200cc intake ports, and the cam is comp 280 magnum, 230@0,50 and 480 lift, and HEI ignition. when it idles best the timing is 18 degree and that is at 900-1000 rpm and the total is 38 degree, OK i was told that these are fair and normal figures but it punches the living hell out of the starter when im cranking her up, OK i can buy me self a high torque mini starter but wont he get the same punishment as this one ? And another thing it seems like the engine performs better with the vacuum advance blinded ?! this cam can barely be used with power brakes, OK can be fixed with a canister but will that somehow help the vacuum advance on the distributor ? Hmmm ? HELP please ?
Thanks in advance. Kristofer.
I have a 383 with a XE274 cam 230* intake, 236* exhaust, 10.36 static CR running on 89 octane pump gas.

I set my timing to 34* all in by 2600 rpm. I have 13" vacuum at idle and am using a vacuum can per Lars' specs.

Absolutly no problems cranking, either with stock starter or smaller high torque.

BTW, I don't know what initial timing is, it does not matter.
 
#11 ·
Oh, its very simple, if you have 34* of timing at idle, and you're idle is set below 2,700 RPM or so, which I expect for that cam is probably around 900 RPM. Then it would be detonating a LOT from take off- that's kind of the whole idea behind having mechanical advance on a dizzy- so you have more timing when you need it, but not too much when you are carrying a high load at low engine speeds.

to simplify it 34* timing + that cam + that compression (at take-off)= BOOM!
 
#12 · (Edited)
ap72 said:
Oh, its very simple, if you have 34* of timing at idle, and you're idle is set below 2,700 RPM or so, which I expect for that cam is probably around 900 RPM. Then it would be detonating a LOT from take off- that's kind of the whole idea behind having mechanical advance on a dizzy- so you have more timing when you need it, but not too much when you are carrying a high load at low engine speeds.

to simplify it 34* timing + that cam + that compression (at take-off)= BOOM!
Sir:

I said the 34* centrifugal timing was in at 2600 rpm, as the post stated, that is where I set it with an adjustable timing light. I will bet you that I do not have 34* at idle.

I have looked at your other posts for the month of October, and I believe you are badly mistaken on a lot of them.

Things that jump out, aside from the bad advice:

10-02-08 quote

"stock 4.3L is 237 CI....." end quote
That = 55cc per L not the +/- 61cc per L that I learned in school.

10-10-08 + other posts: quote
"I am just an engineer, but..."
Your profile shows you as a mechanic, attending SEMo for construction management ...
Ocupation:mechanic, part time laborer

How can you call yourself an engineer, without a degree???

Your above post, concerning my timing, is stupid beyond belief! You either can't read or you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about!

You registered on this site on 6-13-2005. Your birthdate is July 24, 1985. You were almost 20 years old. You made no mention of studying to be an engineer, instead you said you were a mechanic, attending SEMo for construction Management.

So when and where did you receive your Engineering degree and in what discipline? Was it on the Chessie System (railroad line)?

How come there are no MORON Smilies?
 
#13 ·
ap72 said:
Oh, its very simple, if you have 34* of timing at idle, and you're idle is set below 2,700 RPM or so, which I expect for that cam is probably around 900 RPM. Then it would be detonating a LOT from take off- that's kind of the whole idea behind having mechanical advance on a dizzy- so you have more timing when you need it, but not too much when you are carrying a high load at low engine speeds.

to simplify it 34* timing + that cam + that compression (at take-off)= BOOM!
Too many factors to say that is an absolute. I ran 9.5:1 with a 218/224 cam with 110 LSA and was able to lock out my mechanical and run 36* all the time PLUS ported vac.

Chamber design, altitude, thermostat temp, intake air temp, quench, piston design, carb tune, exhaust design/scavenging, stall speed, auto or manual, if the cam is installed straight up or advanced/retarded... the list goes on.

To say that its definite that he'll cause damage is pretty premature at this point.

Initial timing is a pointless number provided it doesn't cause problems elsewhere in the RPMS/load. You can get away with a lot more low RPM timing with an automatic since heavy loading (lots of right foot) will always mean elevated RPMs.
 
#15 ·
Ok, many good advice, thank you all for your time, first i checked the play in the distributor and that was at minimum i believe, i guess it may not be to tight either, another thing i see you guys very often set your total timing at 34-36 degrees, in my experiments 38 has very often give me best results ? ! Maybe the cold here has something to do with it, at summer usually around 65 on Fahrenheit, and im going to try adding a switch on the ign.wire.
Thanks. Kristofer.
 
#16 ·
Thanks f bird.
im going to lay down the total set up.
lets start on top
14" k&n air-cleaner 4" thick, holley 750 double pumper, edelbrock performer rpm air gap intake, world cyl.heads 200cc int.runners, 2,02 and 1.60 valves, 64cc chamber, comp magnum 280 cam,230degr.@050, 480 lift and 110 lobe seperation, installed using degree wheel "to be accurate" 1,5 ratio roller rocker arms, Je srp flat top pistons, 6"eagle i beam rods, eagle 5140 crank with 3,75 stroke, and this hei ignition, maybe i should switch to msd ? or get me this curve kit you mentioned, and should i connect the vacuum advance again ? it felt like she ran smoother with out it ?!
This engine is just recently assembled so there is allot of tuning and testing left, i jetted the carb with #73 front and 75 rear and used 6,5 hg power valve. You did mention earlier i should use 4.5hg valve ? ok
Then comes a th 400 trans with 3000rpm stall converter, 3;73 gear ratio and 26" tires, all this is now sitting in my 72 ss nova.
Thanks for your time and effort. Kristofer.
 
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