[ta man]

Originally Posted by Captain Obvious

New guy here. My Progression distributor arrives Friday and I'm looking forward to putting it on. Been doing a lot of reading on timing for this car, just trying to come up with a base curve for starters. Here's my specs...

461 (original block)
Eagle forged rotating assembly, balanced
9.75:1 compression (verified by builder)
Original #12 heads, completely rebuilt but not ported or worked over heavily, screw in studs.
Original iron intake
XE284 cam. I know it's not well loved here, but my builder (Rick Johnson in Crete, IL) swears by it so I trusted him. I do run high ZDDP oil (Lucas Hot Rod).
Quadrajet built to the engine specs (supposedly)
3.55 rear gear
M20
no AC
I can only get 91 octane here, so I've been mixing to get 93 or so. Would love to be able to run pump 91.
Car currently makes about 9 inches of vacuum at idle. and likes about 20 degrees initial advance. I had to back that off to 16 due to hard starting. Yeah, that's an electric vacuum pump for the brakes.

Any suggestions for a base curve , or some tips would be most welcome!

Currently shooting for 20 initial and 34 total, all in at 3200rpm. I'll bring the total up and RPM down if it seems to tolerate that. Car seems to like to idle around 650-750, and I like the lumpy idle down there, so win win I guess.

This is a street driven weekend fair weather car, will probably never see a track. It was a full rotisserie restoration so I just have too much money into it, and it's sentimental to my wife (her dad's car).

My first suggestion would be to set the idle at 850 to 950 rpm..to get the vacuum higher, I personally like a cleaner higher idle then a blubbering low idle especially with any sort of cam. Also remember timing and fuel mixtures go hand in hand adjust both. Does the ignition have a start retard? That may help you run a higher initial advance. A good idle in my books is one that can sit at a stoplight for minutes with zero issues..not one in park at a Dairy Queen that sounds good.
Good luck..report back on the progress!