Hey can anybody help me out. I run my car on Optimax full time so theres no reason why i shouldnt advance my timing a bit right??

I have no idea how to do it though!! Can anybody help???

Thanks in advance!

LOL I did that today! :)

At the back of the distributor and further down (look down past the cap at the back) you'll see a nut. Loosening that nut allows you to twist the distributor, you'll see the bolt sticks thru a bit that can slide...hard to explain it..but you'll know that it's made to be turned to adjust timing.

Simply loosen the nut (dont have to take it off...and the nut is tight and hard to get to. 12mm ring spanner will do the trick..dont think about ratchet...unless you have a uni-joint adaptor) and twist it clockwise as far as you can. Since you run optimax all the time you should have no problems. I did it today and I noticed immediate results...and big results too!

I smoked my mates soarer ;) lol ...but they're heavy lol

...and twist it clockwise as far as you can...

Sounds like your telling him to advance the timing fully, making it spark prolly halfway up the cylinder...



Mate what you wanna do is adjust the timing, like he said, loosen the dizzy and twist it. You need a timing light and shine it at the timing marks, find what the timing of your car should be.

Then the light will flash when the first piston fires (this is ALL explained in your haynes/gregories, get one)

Anyways say the timing is 5 degrees before top dead centre (btdc), to advance it twist the dizzy until its a few more degrees btdc, i dunno how many degrees? 2 or 3? i dunno.

then tighten the bolt on the dizzy again, and enjoy the power.

If im wrong someone correct me plz.

your absolutely correct. i wouldnt dare go near this without a timing light and prior knowledge or the degree settings. just upgrading to optimax i would think it would only be a change of maybe 2 degrees?

Well I was told to do it that way by someone who's experience with doing it and they said that turning it fully will only advance it a few degrees

Also if you look at it (have you even done that before posting?) you'll see they dont twist much at all. :roll:

:shock: dont you roll your eyes at me boy! :shock: im not saying what you did will change it heaps. i actually assumed when i read yours that would be the case anyway. however getting it wrong by even just one or two degrees can in the long run have a big effect on economy, wear etc. it would have just seemed easier to check your settings with a timing light, but if it seems ok. remember you can overcompensate though.

True, you can. But when you use 98 octane all the time you actually need to advance the timing to get the benefits from it, because that's where the extra octane comes into play.

The best thing to do when it's advanced though is to keep that 12mm ring spanner in the car. If you hear *anything* that sounds amiss...pull straight over and turn that dizzy back.

That's what I'm doing for now. Im willing to let my current engine be a guinea pig :D

ha. i keep a little tool belt with a spanner, shifter, screwdrivers, pliers in my spare well just in case. never no when you might need a tool. also a first aid kit too.

Good thing you have a first aid kit...would be hard to stop the bleeding with a spanner :lol: :lol: :lol:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: ha ha ha. true but it will be good to get the stray bolt out of your stomach that got shot through the fire wall after your engine blew up due to incorrect timing!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

well i'm about to go and pick up a timing light and head out to KB's place to play silly buggers. will let all TR/TS owners know wot the go is tonight!

We got it sorted out.

Stock is supposed to be 15 degrees BTDC. It's now running at 19. Runs fantastically. Definitely more power all the way across, Jason will vouch for that as he test drove it before and directly after the change. And since he wasnt used to my car he had a better chance of noticing the difference and it not being physchological.

I did have it too far advanced before, and I apologize because I was wrong before. But you have to learn somewhere and this is a new file for the knowledge banks :D

You beat me to it Paul!!!
i think we set your timing just above 20, and mine is around 18-19, seeing Paul's car is the test car that we can blow up for shits and giggles!!!
I did noticed more power, all bullshit aside but noticed more of an improvment driving paul's car seing we went a little more advanced and he's running octane boost and i'm not, only running straight 98RON.

If you are going to do it, use a timing light or you've got no idea where your at, and it's very easy to do.
I'm going to keep an eye on my fuel economy and if she guzzels fuel now, i'll be returning it to it's original setting and dialing it back up for a drag meet or something.

ok guys just confirming this is only for older model magnas and not the newer tj's?

ok guys just confirming this is only for older model magnas and not the newer tj's?
Yeah thats right. The TR/TS V6 has still got a dizzy so you can screw around with it a bit to get those extra HP's that are just sitting around doing nothing. The only thing the TR/TS V6 magna is missing is a carby so then we could really start having some fun!!!

Gremlin, i'll bring my timing light on saturday night and get your engine running a bit quicker

Sounds good mate! Can't wait!!
It'll be an unfair drive there now cause you and kb have already advanced yours 8)

So are you guys staying the night or what??

It's not a huge power increase, i noticed it sorta got rid of some of my flat spots when using 3/4 throttle which felt nice. Remember to have a full tank of 98 octane, BP, Shell, Mobil whoever u want just make sure it's the good stuff.

yeah as far as i know we're still staying the night just bring urself a pillow, 12mm ring spanner and a camera. should be good, and i think matt69 might meet us up there, hopefully show us a good spot to can on and check out the ladies

Well I was told to do it that way by someone who's experience with doing it and they said that turning it fully will only advance it a few degrees

Also if you look at it (have you even done that before posting?) you'll see they dont twist much at all.

We got it sorted out.
Stock is supposed to be 15 degrees BTDC. It's now running at 19. Runs fantastically. Definitely more power all the way across, Jason will vouch for that as he test drove it before and directly after the change. And since he wasnt used to my car he had a better chance of noticing the difference and it not being physchological.

I did have it too far advanced before, and I apologize because I was wrong before. But you have to learn somewhere and this is a new file for the knowledge banks :D

ooh ooh! how sweet it is! thats twice ive had to correct you in as many days paully! your not loosing your grip on that tr/ts crown are you? i know there are quite a few guys hanging around ready to pounce! your either gonna have to start studying those new manuals or get that dohc in asap to keep in the gamw dude! :lol: :lol: :lol:

lol :p

Never learn if you don't make mistakes matey :p hehee

I got so far through this thread and gave up reading lol

The stock is 5 Deg BTDC with the engine service connector shorted, it is a round plug on the fire wall on the left side near the dist.

As the TR and s both have knock sensors I would not hesitate to advanc e, mine is running at 10 deg in the above conditions, remember that if you do advance too far the knock sensor will to an extent retard timing to correct but it will only do that so far.

If you connect the timiong light with out the service connector shorted the reading you have will vary depending on engine temp, revs and about a million other conditions the ecu thinks may or may not exist.

BTW, if using the method of shorting the service connector make sure you use a fused wire just in case you stuff up

And as for Killbilly turning his Dist all the way there is a possability that his dist may not have had far to go. He did not do the wrong thing in so far as I am sure he would have turned it back if the engine ran bad and if he did turn it too far he would have noticed it at idle so no damage would have been done.

I did end up turning it back a bit Mal :D

In the manual I have here it says it's 15 degrees +/-2 BTDC?

I'll have to check with the other one and see what it says.

On my bonnet and in the gregories manal they both state 5 deg but keep in mind mine is an auto and it is not unusual for the auto to be retarded in timing (and other ways) so it does not grab while stationary and in gear

Fair enough, as I said I could've read it wrong because it has 2 lots of timing things there, so I'll have another look.

I did end up turning it back a bit Mal :D

In the manual I have here it says it's 15 degrees +/-2 BTDC?

I'll have to check with the other one and see what it says.

Thats without the service connector shorted. My car is 16 degrees without the connector shorted, and 5 with.

Ahh ok then that makes sense because there is 2 lots of Timing things here and one says 5 and the other says 15.

Thanks for that.

i have a carby magna, run it at 7deg BTDC with the vacuum hose to the advance mech removed and plugged, makes a difference, doesnt have a terribly noticable effect on the fuel consumtption. My right foot makes a bigger difference

I've advanced my timing a bit, not sure how much as I didn't have a timing light around me. But, I've noticed fuel consumption to be better on cruising? I mean, even with some overtaking manouvers, I've managed to do 280km half tank, I normally get only 230-250km.

i can NOT find the timing mark on my camshaft pulley, so i gotta get under there with some degreaser and scrub it soon. I guess i advanced the timing on it, and i got better power from it, but i heard this constandt knockknockknocking soound, i think my engine needs a rebuild, at only 170,000 also.

Right now theres no knocking sound, alright power and only 8.9 l/100 ks on the highway, im happy :D

u need to run premium unleaded..... ;)

premium is a must, otherwise it'll ping to the bejesus which isn't too good. if u don't wanna use premium, don't touch ur timing

I ended up getting a timing light and doing mine. Dunno if it made much difference. I did it on a hot day and my car always runs shitty on a hot day cause of that bloody pod filter.