After reading some posts I've become confused about setting the ignition timing.
I'm trying to set it on my first gen b16, that has a CTR crank pulley. When I set the advance on the timing light to 4 degrees advance the mark lines up with the middle red notch on the pulley.
So what is my ignition timing?
I thought this meant it was at 4 degrees advance and that I should set it to 16 degrees, but my distributor is advanced all it can.

 

If you are setting it using the "advance" feature on your timing light, you want to look at the TDC mark, not the red mark. If you set your light to "0", the red line will indicate 16 degree BTDC.

 

Yeah, the red line is already 16 degrees advanced. If you dialed in 4 more degrees with your light, that put you at 20 degrees.

Another way to look at it, the red mark is for people who don't have the dial feature on their timing lights.

 

Ok it makes sense to me now. The red mark being 16 degrees advance and the advance on the timing light combined to kinda confused my cranium.

thanks