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Old 03-12-2026, 03:08 AM
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I run FiTech with timing control, so it is a similar dealio, but the PI has more resolution. All I get to play with is idle/1100/3000/6000 and 2 different vacuum conditions (WOT and cruise).

I like a lot of base timing, and I use 28 at idle conditions. I'd be curious if your engine combo would like a simulated "manifold" vacuum advance condition. Right now it simulates a "ported" advance.

I see your "mechanical" is all-in by 3000. I usually liked that a little earlier on my engine when I ran a standard HEI. My normal around town cruise rpm is 2500-2600, so I like to have cruise timing in at that point - 42 degrees max for me. But my rpm breakpoint is 3000 rpm, so I have to do a little blending to get more high vacuum cruise timing. If I had more granularity in my system, I would go for more cruise timing like you have, somewhere close to 50.

I would be curious how your setup would respond by pulling in your wot timing from 3000 to 2500.

Isn't this fun? You can play around without spring changes or vacuum advance cams and tension screws!

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Old 03-12-2026, 01:52 PM
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What does the Y axis represent (20 - 101). Sorry if it’s obvious but I’m scratching my head on that.

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Old 03-12-2026, 05:41 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Squidward View Post
I run FiTech with timing control, so it is a similar dealio, but the PI has more resolution. All I get to play with is idle/1100/3000/6000 and 2 different vacuum conditions (WOT and cruise).

I like a lot of base timing, and I use 28 at idle conditions. I'd be curious if your engine combo would like a simulated "manifold" vacuum advance condition. Right now it simulates a "ported" advance.

I see your "mechanical" is all-in by 3000. I usually liked that a little earlier on my engine when I ran a standard HEI. My normal around town cruise rpm is 2500-2600, so I like to have cruise timing in at that point - 42 degrees max for me. But my rpm breakpoint is 3000 rpm, so I have to do a little blending to get more high vacuum cruise timing. If I had more granularity in my system, I would go for more cruise timing like you have, somewhere close to 50.

I would be curious how your setup would respond by pulling in your wot timing from 3000 to 2500.

Isn't this fun? You can play around without spring changes or vacuum advance cams and tension screws!
That's all that the handheld lets you access Get your ProCal software running and you can control the cells between that are interpolated.

The PI distributor software is still has more resolution than the FiTech tables, but not nearly as much as the handheld imputs would have you believe.

From the table provided above, it looks like a good safe starting point. You may find it wants a bit more timing up top, for the timing to come in a bit sooner and it may tolerate more low load timing.

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  #4  
Old 03-12-2026, 05:54 PM
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Default timing

Thanks for the feedback. Yes I wanted a safe curve as a baseline that was similar
to the curve in my HEI. My car likes a slower curve and dead stable timing in gear.
very minimal drop in RPM as the unit adjusts timing to load when dropped in gear.

still learning with this new toy, and had one long cruise last weekend. Saw that while
running down highway at 65-70, map sensor has me in 42 line of table. fun to observe vacuum and timing live on display. definitely more tuning needed.

Gerry

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  #5  
Old 03-17-2026, 12:18 PM
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I've got a PI distributor in my car. To make it easier on my brain, I tweaked the Y axis so KPA easily corresponds with vacuum. The KPA values are about 2" of vacuum apart from each other.

So from 36 KPA, its about 19, 17, 15, 13, 11, 9, 8.5, 6, 4, 1" of vacuum as you move toward the top of the Y axis. Makes it easy for me to correlate to the vacuum gauge. If you notice, I pull all the vacuum timing at 73 KPA, which is about 8.5" of vacuum. That's about where my power valve opens. So it drops the vacuum timing, the PV opens and I'm rich and retrded as I approach WOT.

For the vacuum advance, I copied the behavior of the aggressive advance cans from a late 60s distributor. The vacuum timing starts at about 8" and comes all in by 15" of vacuum. At 15", it adds 12 degrees of timing. There are some cells where it deviates, mostly around peak torque and high RPM cruise where I was being careful with the tune.
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Old 04-13-2026, 08:03 PM
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Default Beautiful day a tuning

Sunday was a beautiful day. Was able to do more fine tweaking.
After a nice highway run adjusted idle rpm on carb and now
she idles at 650rpm in gear, like butter.
Curb idle rises to 725ish when placed into park.
This is the map she ran best with. Very responsive from
idle thru WOT. She does not like a lot of VA, car feels milder.
16 initial
36 total @3000
8 vacuum advance
While running down highway gauge shows 2850rpm or so at 65.
3:08 gears are sweet for highway runs.
Cooler out and temp was only over stat while on highway. Dropped
To stat temp once off highway. 170 degrees NOS Delco stat.
I am paying attention to the vacuum gauge now that I have one.
In gear 15, at highway light load 19, decal coming off highway I surprised
To see 22. Does the vacuum numbers look in line with what should be expected.
Thanks and have fun.

Gerry
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