How to: Adjusting Ignition Timing

[Vadim]

How to: Adjusting Ignition Timing



Adjusting your timing can give you a couple extra horse power and can improve your gas mileage. A lot of times this will be counted as a "free" performance mod, because you are gaining a few extra horses while not having to do much more then fueling up with a higher octane gas. Now higher Octane gas is more expensive, but the extra MPG's that you are getting should make it up.

These instructions are fairly similar to the ones by Naji Dahi, found here, which are similar to the FSM ones.

What will be needed:

• Timing Light Gun
• Flathead Screwdriver
• 12mm Socket and Ratchet

Process
This is the quicker/easier way to update your ignition timing.

1. Warm up the engine until the coolant temperature needle is in the middle, make sure the car is idling under 1k RPM





2. Open your hood and find and disconnect the TPS sensor. Your engine will rev up for a second then go back down to normal idling RPM's.





3. Get inside your car and rev up your engine to 3k RPM 2-3 times. This will lock the timing, so that you would get an accurate reading.




4. Connect the Timing Light Gun. You will need to connect it to your battery and the inductive pickup to the first cylinder's spark plug wire.





5. Find the crank pulley, there should be a pin right above it, find it.





6. Now you have an idea on where to point your Timing Gun.





7. Turn the timing gun on and watch for the timing marks on the crank. The pin above the crank pulley will show you your current timing.

In this picture my timing is at 16*-17* TDC


Here is the Crank Pulley and timing marks from FSM




8. To adjust your timing you will need to turn the distributor. Find your distributor and use the 12mm socket and ratchet to loosen the two bolts.

First bolt is towards the top:


Second bolt:




9. Turning the Distributor towards the Firewall will advance your timing, while turning the Distributor towards the Front of the engine will retard the timing.






10. Turn the distributor in the desired direction, then check the timing. Make sure not to over do it! If you bump up your timing from 15* to 17*+ then you will need to run 91 Octane rating gas or better.

Here is my timing at 19*. I am running 93 Octane gas with this timing and so far no pinging or knocking.



11. Tighten the Distributor bolts and reconnect the TPS then shut off the car. Start the car back up and make sure everything is working fine.

Suggestion You can make marks on your distributor for easier advancing/retarding of your timing.

These marks show the timing at 19*, 17*, and 15* on my car.

Big thanks to Sentrixx, daveracer, and Sneakers O'Toole.

If you have suggestions or questions please post them up in this thread.

[Tommy SR20]

Simply awesome! That is the best advanced timing write-up I've ever seen.

[Vadim]

Originally Posted by Tommy SR20

Simply awesome! That is the best advanced timing write-up I've ever seen.

Thanks Tommy!

[SR20 91 SE-R]

dam dude your car is a guinea pig ..lol sweet write up

[Vadim]

Originally Posted by SR20 91 SE-R

dam dude your car is a guinea pig ..lol sweet write up

I don't mind if I can use it for someone else's good

[mrbass]

hi to everybody!
The English language isn't my native language, for that reason, I don't understand this "rev up your engine to 3k RPM 2-3 times".
It is like when you accelerate in the traffic light to incite a street run?

[Vadim]

Originally Posted by mrbass

hi to everybody!
The English language isn't my native language, for that reason, I don't understand this "rev up your engine to 3k RPM 2-3 times".
It is like when you accelerate in the traffic light to incite a street run?

This means just press the gas pedal under no load, aka while not driving, but idling.

[Scrildo]

Awesome awesome write up and great pics man!!!!!!!. I just subscribed to this thread and when I get my car back together I will be printing this out and using it. One question though. My car never idles below 1000rpm. It will when it's cold but as soon as it warms up it will be anywhere between 1000rpm and 1500rpm. Any suggestions?!?! Can anybody on this board help me!!!!!

[Vadim]

Originally Posted by Scrildo

Awesome awesome write up and great pics man!!!!!!!. I just subscribed to this thread and when I get my car back together I will be printing this out and using it. One question though. My car never idles below 1000rpm. It will when it's cold but as soon as it warms up it will be anywhere between 1000rpm and 1500rpm. Any suggestions?!?! Can anybody on this board help me!!!!!

Man I wouldn't print this, the pictures are wayy too big. I wish we could get the auto picture resize like on the old forum hehe...

I think you will need to adjust your Idle sensor. I believe it's fairly easy, just unplug the TPS sensor and then turn the screw on the intake manifold left or right.

Check this web page out, he shows how to adjust timing and idle speed

[Scrildo]

Originally Posted by CovertRussian

Man I wouldn't print this, the pictures are wayy too big. I wish we could get the auto picture resize like on the old forum hehe...

I think you will need to adjust your Idle sensor. I believe it's fairly easy, just unplug the TPS sensor and then turn the screw on the intake manifold left or right.

Check this web page out, he shows how to adjust timing and idle speed

Hey thanks a lot for the info and link man.

[Vadim]

Originally Posted by Scrildo

Hey thanks a lot for the info and link man.

Anytime

[MY95SER]

SWEET! the Russian does it again with the pictures

[Vadim]

Originally Posted by MY95SER

SWEET! the Russian does it again with the pictures

Hahahah

[blairellis]

How does advanced timing help with better gas mileage?

[Vadim]

Originally Posted by blairellis

How does advanced timing help with better gas mileage?

It allows for the fuel to burn longer, thus less fuel ends getting burned in the CAT.

The problem is, when you advance your timing, the fuel maps change, so the gains will most likely stay the same. The way to actually gain better MPG's with the timing mod is by getting a tunable ECU, Calum RealTime or Basic, and adjusting the fuel maps, so that they wouldn't change with the timing.

Now I haven't experienced with this first hand, but a knowledgeable friend of mine explained this process to me. If this is by any chance incorrect, please let me know and I'll update it.