Motor LS block with GSR head

So I just got a new distributor put on. Its set at stock 16 degrees. What I noticed is that my old distributor was set advance timing. At least I think that it was advanced. If you face the distributor from the passenger side my old distributor was turned to the left alittle. Is that advancing the timing? Why I'm asking is because it felt a little faster before I put on the new distributor at stock timing. Also when I step it my buddy said he can smell alot of fuel if you are behind me. I know your suppose to keep it at stock timing if your car is stock but I have hondata and alot of bolt-ons. Is that fuel smell because I need to advance the timing to get the air/fuel ratio set? Should I turn the distributor back to the timing it was set at before I set it to stock 16 degrees?

any thoughts or ideas would be helpful.

 

bump

 

from your description, it's advancing timing. an easier way to describe it so people can understand is turning it towards the firewall or away from the firewall. the firewall is the barrier that seperates your motor from your interior cabin. advance timing will run leaner(more air than fuel) and retard timing will run richer(more fuel than air). the gas your buddy is smelling common on any car stock or tune when you floor it. but if you can smell fuel even at idle than i would say a tune ecu, no cat. convert., or no o2 sensor is causing that. i dont think there is anything wrong with it, maybe just polluting the air.

 

yea it was turned towards the firewall. And yea I have no cat

 

Then having in odor at the end of your tail pipe is expected. Thats normal.

 

ever heard of any power gains by advancing the timing?

 

Turning it to the firewall or the front would advance timing it?

 

Advance timing normallly would give you quickeer throttle responds, runs leaner so therefore might make more power due to more air than fuel ratio. It will also increase fuel effiency because now that you are running lean, you don't burn as much fuel. Sounds good? Well here is the bad news, when you run lean you run the risk of running very hot and dry for your cylinder, this will ruin your motor.

Running with "retard" timing; or "rich" will run more fuel than air. You won't feel a good quick acceleration, you will feel the car slowly pick up speed. You waste a very good amount of fuel. But here is the good news, the fuel acts as a cooling system for your cylinder and therefore it will help prolong the life of your motor.

So the best thing to do is to run Stoichiometric. Stoichiometric is a even mixture of both lean and rich to get you a good bit of each settings. Most stock motor should be running like this.

Again, Turning distributor TOWARDS FIREWALL will ADVANCE TIMING and AWAY FROM FIREWALL will RETARD TIMING.