So today I set the timing on my 3FE. First time in years and figured now that I exclusively burn ethanol free 91 octane and had recently done a top end cleanup it'd be a good time to do it. I did it with the engine hot. Connected the vacuum gauge to the brake booster nipple on the intake manifold. Idling at 700 RPM I showed 18 inches of vacuum. When I went to adjust the distributor, it was already almost at its maximum rotation. I was able to take it up to 19.5 inches vacuum at its max rotation, so rather than max it out I set it to 19 inches vacuum and then readjusted the idle back down to 700RPM. Took it for a test drive and was shifting early to load the engine pretty good, and no pinging. Driving it normally, there was a noticeable improvement in power. Not a massive improvement, but enough to tell it wasn't just placebo effect. A rule of thumb I've used is to max out the idle vacuum by adjusting the timing, but then back it off two inches from max vacuum. With my distributor being close to maxed on rotation, I couldn't find where it would reach maximum vacuum at idle. This has me wondering if there's more I can get out of it. Obviously the most efficiency I can get from it the better, and it's been going well so far!
To anyone else's experience, would I be able to remove the distributor, advance it a tooth, and then replace it at the lowest point on the adjustment tab; or would that result in too many degrees of advance adjustment?
To anyone else's experience, would I be able to remove the distributor, advance it a tooth, and then replace it at the lowest point on the adjustment tab; or would that result in too many degrees of advance adjustment?