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Timing Tips?


Old-Black-88

Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2014
Messages
20
City
Milton De
Vehicle Year
1988
Transmission
Manual
My credo
Screw It... Theres always BEER.
Now that I know how to adjust the timing on my 88 2.0, any ideas or tips on how I can maybe get some more power out of my engine? Has anyone experimented with this before?
 
Aggressive spark advance gives you more power but also leads to pinging/knocking if advanced too much.
Pinging is pre-detonation, fuel is self igniting before spark plug fires, pinging causes pits in pistons and valves and will lead to parts failure.
Gasoline Octane numbers are self ignition/heat numbers, 87 octane will self ignite at a lower temp than 89 octane, which will self ignite at a lower temp than 91 octane, ect.....

So........if you chose to run a higher octane you can often use more spark advance.
A gallon of 87 octane and 93 octane gas have exactly the same "power"/energy, the difference is that when running higher octane you can advance spark more, without pinging.

EGR(exhaust gas recirculation) helps cool cylinders when under load, accelerating, yes, hot exhaust gas cools cylinders, lol, go figure.
Cooling the cylinders holds off the start of pinging, which can allow you to run 87 octane and a bit more spark advance than without EGR.
 
Well if I sync the distributor with the cam shaft that could reduce pinging or (if Im good enough) stop it completely. Does that sound right? Does pinging make an audible sound?

I know where TDC is on my crank shaft as well as on the cam, but I have to take off the distributor cap to sync that part with the cam. The question being where to put the cam vs. the distributor.
 
If you genuinely want to increase power I would suggest adding another 2.0L, maybe even another 3.0L to your engine.
 
If you are still playing with this, the cam should be set to the five o'clock setting (if you have a V shaped mark on the cam timing gear it should point to approx 5 on an old clock face). The crank, of course has two TDC settings...one is 180* out of timing and the other is correct...

You need to make sure the piston is TDC on the compression stroke...and to do that you need to remove the #1 plug and put you thumb over the hole...while cranking the engine BY HAND (do not use starter) you will feel pressure on your thumb...this indicates the compression stroke.

Check the mark for the crank and it should be pointing somewhere near the gear on the distributor/oil pump gear on the right side...

If you already know all this...my apologies...but I don't know what you know so I like to start with the basics.

As for making more power...what Adsm08 mentioned is not too far from what it takes. The 2.0 and 2.3 were work horses that will give you longevity and make you a calmer person because you will learn that they will not go any faster no matter how anxious you are about getting somewhere...but they can be brought to life with plenty of $$$$$$ and the right parts...
 

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