The Ford Barn

Greg Jones · 06-04-2020, 09:30 AM

I agree with Bob Bidonde and Purdy, you need to get as much advance as possible to get maximum performance. Too much advance robs performance. Proper advance is kinda specific to your engine's setup. High compression head? What is your point gap? Are you really timed correctly? Lots of other variables. I have two engines for which I am responsible for the care and feeding of. Basically all stock except for the cylinder heads: On the one I have a 5:5 head, with stock Zenith carb, stock distributor with points set to 0.020" I can advance about two-thirds for high-speed driving. My other engine has a 6:1 head, also with stock Zenith carb, stock distributor with points set to 0.020". The 6:1 won't take quite as much advance-I call it "5/8 advance" or just a little over halfway. At this setting it runs at 50mph nice and pretty all day long. Once I find the sweet spot I rarely move the advance lever but will if going uphill or at low low speed or a combination of both. Most of the time, I can take a gentle hill just by giving it more gas and can pick up speed going uphill. I say all this to point out that a lot depends on whether you run a stock head or a high(er) compression cylinder head.

06-04-2020, 09:30 AM	#20
Greg Jones Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Aiken, South Carolina Posts: 697	Re: Spark advance I agree with Bob Bidonde and Purdy, you need to get as much advance as possible to get maximum performance. Too much advance robs performance. Proper advance is kinda specific to your engine's setup. High compression head? What is your point gap? Are you really timed correctly? Lots of other variables. I have two engines for which I am responsible for the care and feeding of. Basically all stock except for the cylinder heads: On the one I have a 5:5 head, with stock Zenith carb, stock distributor with points set to 0.020" I can advance about two-thirds for high-speed driving. My other engine has a 6:1 head, also with stock Zenith carb, stock distributor with points set to 0.020". The 6:1 won't take quite as much advance-I call it "5/8 advance" or just a little over halfway. At this setting it runs at 50mph nice and pretty all day long. Once I find the sweet spot I rarely move the advance lever but will if going uphill or at low low speed or a combination of both. Most of the time, I can take a gentle hill just by giving it more gas and can pick up speed going uphill. I say all this to point out that a lot depends on whether you run a stock head or a high(er) compression cylinder head.