schould i advance my timing?

[erebunicrx]

does advanceing the timing do anything for you with a stock motor. i have a 90 ls motor.

 

[Arachnid]

"it's the other way around." you can retime your stock configuration and see a bit of a result. with just camgear tuning you'll unleash some stock cam power.

 

[MikeBergy]

If you advance your ignition timing too much, you run the risk of detonation. You are causing the cylinder to fire earlier than normal. If you set it at a good spot, it will fire at just the right time so that the gas pressure resulting from the ignited fuel mixture will work with maximum efficiency, and by this I mean maximum pumping efficiency, not fuel efficiency. Cars are set from the factory to a timing that will achieve the most clean burn, not necessarily the most power. retarding the ignition timing is a way to prevent detonation. Cam timing is different; it controls how much overlap you have in the intake stroke, and there are a lot of factors that come into play with overlap, like the effective compression ratio, pumping efficiency, flow reversion, pulsing, etc....So you have to be careful when your playing with cam timing. For example, I replaced a timing belt on my integra a couple of years ago, and accidentally set the intake cam one tooth forward. My bogged like garbage for about the first 3000rpm, but then it gradually picked up, and felt more powerful at the top end, probably a result of the effective compression being raised. It was really weird though, kinda like vtec without the lower cam lobes.

 

[posol]

you will gain .3023234 hp.

don't bother