I have a 95 Accord EX. I was told that you could advance up to 18 Degrees. I did that and I got alot of power from it and the car burned alot of fuel, but I read an article from the High Performance Honda Builders Book by Joe Pettitt and he recommends retarding the timing after TDC. Which is best? and how do I know which why to turn the distributor to get to 18 or less. All I see is 4 marks Middle Red and one on both sides of the red mark.

 

The retarding the timing after TDC was probably referring to valve timing (with a cam gear). So technically both are correct. You need to advance the ignition timing and retard the valve timing.

As far as the marks:

One way off on its own=TDC
Red one=15 degrees Before TDC
Other white ones (13 and 17 degrees TDC...this is the range Honda recommends)