ford 460 cam timing 0 or 4 advanced degrees

[szokejohn2]

I was looking on the internet and wondering how many of you guys with fords are running straight up timing of running 4 degrees advanced timing and have you see a lot of differance when you changed over.

[Ken F]

It's going to depend a lot on your cam as to whether you will benefit or not.
The most important is that you have an early model (pre-'72) timing set or not. '72 is when they retarded the timing 7* for smog control. That is the bigest improvement you can make.
Have you run your engine on Desk top Dyno? If not, that is a great way to see what advancing your cam will do.
Ken F

[BigBlockBaja]

I followed everyones advise about the cam timing issue. When I put my valve train together i used the pre 72' double roller and a crane 280H magnum. I havent gotten it on the water yet, but from judging from the throttle response, its really crisp.

[FILUCKY]

Go with a good adjustible timing set and run 4 degrees advanced, you'll be happy there.

[Wicked Performance Boats]

You must degree it to know where it's at! Budlight

[SoCalKev]

My 87 460 says 8 degrees. Its outta a 3/4 ton truck.
Should I just time it at 8 degrees? Or are there any better settings? :sqeyes:

[szokejohn2]

dont know,I would like to run it at 4 degrees after! anybody with any other thoughts??

[SB]

Getting the early timing set gained me about 100 hp in my application.

[Jetmugg]

It looks like the discussion may be crossing the line between cam timing and ignition timing. They are different issues.
SteveM.

[szokejohn2]

Thanks ,I have herd that more advanced cam timing will help with throttle responce and HP.I'm looking to get more rpms .With more HP you get more RPMs. Right? :messedup:

[szokejohn2]

anybody have any other ideas?

[BigBlockBaja]

Well heres a question related to this topic... I got my 460 base timing at 10 degrees and when snap the throttle open it will blow flames out the carb. Not good.. Would ignition timing do this?

[Wicked Performance Boats]

Yes, it will. If you have it set at 10 degrees before top dead center, the next thing I would check is. The harmonic balancer to make sure the hub did not spin on the outer ring. to do that, you need a piston stop. Budlight

[Jetmugg]

I just made a piston stop for my 460. There was no timing pointer at all on the engine. Now I have a decent pointer, and lined it up with the exact TDC as determined by the piston stop method.
All it took was an old spark plug, and a short piece of 3/8 NC allthread.
SteveM.

[BigBlockBaja]

Too much or too little timing?

[Jetmugg]

I've always considered that for a jetboat, the total "all in" number is more important than the initial timing number.
The initial number can be misleading, unless you are 100% sure how much advance is built into the distributor. Initial can also be tricky if you are running very light advance springs. I had this problem with an Oldsmobile once. I thought I was measuring only initial advance, but it turned out that some of the mechanical advance was already coming in.
SteveM.