[Chevelle-list] vacuum advance hits manifold

[John Nasta]

I have been hearing some pinging if I jump on the pedal so I decided to try advancing the timing a little. I don’t have a timing scale on the cover, so I have to do it by ear. It sounds better as I advance it, but unfortunately there is not very much throw before the vacuum advance hits the manifold. This is a HEI distributor out of a mid-80s Blazer and an Edelbrock Performer manifold. I can retard the timing to the point where the engine stalls, but I can’t advance it as much as I'd like to be able to. Right now I have it right against the manifold and it is definitely running better than before, but I wish I could advance it more just to see if it would run even better. Has anyone ever dealt with this kind of thing before?   Thanks, John Nasta