Gary,
Interesting link. I also used the pictures to evaluate my plugs I changed this weekend (found some consistent carbon fouling all plugs). Some of the plugs were a real joy to get to.

Back to the vacuum, I got a vacuum gauge and it read 10.5?? with a swing of +-1/2 matching the lobe of the engine. Am I measuring from the wrong place? I tried a few different hoses with similar results. Why would it be so low?

check timing may be retarted. have you ever havd a compression check done. how many miles on your engine. that reading is low should be around 20. any luck with carb spray finding a leak? theres definatly something wrong with a reading that low. it would cause a rough idle.

With the vacuum gauge attached advance the timing till you get about 18" and test drive the car . If you start to get kick back on the starter when trying to crank the engine or if you get pinging with good gas you have too much advance . You will probably have to readjust your idle after changing the timing .Let us know if you have any more questions and we will try to talk you through this .

gman

More information.
Retested vac again. This time after a 40min drive, it read 16.5 at idle. I turned her off and restarted 5 min later and now at 12.5 at idle. When rev to 2000, she reads a solid 20.5 steady with 0.5 swing. I tried again and the 12.5 at idle, and 20.5 at 2000 seems to be consistant.

I plan to try to advance the timing tomorrow. To advance the timing, do I turn the distributor clockwise or counterclockwise.

should be counter clockwise to advance. be sure to have the vacuum advance hose disconnected when setting initial timing

|UPDATED|2/17/2003 9:34:55 AM|/UPDATED|

I did not get a chance to advance the timing yet. However, when checking the condition of rotor and cap, I noticed one of my spark plug wires arching to the shield. I changed my wires and spark plugs last week. Fixed a sticking heat riser valve. She seems to be idleing and running much better now. Thanks for the help everyone! I'm learning alot on this site.


|UPDATED|2/23/2003 6:47:23 PM|/UPDATED|

this is not by the books but how i have my timing set. i advance my timing until either the engine pings or it is hard to start then i back the timing down until both problem goes away. i haven't checked the timing with a light but it is running much stronger now. i have used this method for over 25 years without any problem.

Thanks Gary and 4Webers!
Finally got to adjust the timing. Vacuume came up to around 17ish and seem to be much more responsive on throttle. Only took her for one ride after the change, but seems good so far.