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Posted by: Dave97 Oct 5 2017, 04:19 PM

I bought a car with a MSD box and distributor. What should the timing be set at?

Thanks Dave

Posted by: Justinp71 Oct 5 2017, 05:40 PM

4 Cyl or 6 Cyl? I don't think it should change from factory with the MSD box.

Posted by: porschetub Oct 5 2017, 10:08 PM

The blue Permatune is very solid for a "6",mind you we have no info so where do we go...

Posted by: Krieger Oct 5 2017, 10:49 PM

Why don't you call MSD and get specs on the distributor? They have a tech line. Find out total degrees of advance it has.

Posted by: forrestkhaag Oct 6 2017, 12:31 PM

I am running my 6 3.0 with an MSD digital AL6. The stock dizzy was recurved to address the WebCam 20/21 grind on the SC cams. The suggested advance of 7.5dbtdc was not working and would not allow the Webers to give any idle. Thru trial and retrial, I set my advance at 17dbtdc and the idle is good and the power band is very good up to redline. I use an OTC timing light with digital tach thereon and it really helps to dial in the tuning.

Posted by: yeahmag Oct 6 2017, 04:57 PM

Baseline for carbs on a 4 cylinder car is 12 BTDC at idle 28 BTDC at 3000 RPM. With a Mallory you would start with grey/grey springs to set the curve. Not sure what that would map to on an MSD, but shouldn't be that hard to figure out. Grab the Mallory spring guide off the inter-webs and figure out what's close in MSD land.

On the MSD box, set the rev limit pill at or below 6K RPM until you know what's in the motor. No need to prematurely ventilate the case.

Posted by: Dave97 Oct 6 2017, 06:22 PM

I bought the car with and no spec. It's a 4 cyl. Ok I'll take the 8200 chip out. (Just kidding). I've seen 32 degree. Another question, is there a mark on the fan? Do I need a timing light that can dial in the advance? Thanks. Dave

Posted by: maf914 Oct 7 2017, 05:32 AM

The MSD website has installation instructions for the MSD 8485 VW distributor that include recommendations and graphs of the advance curves with various advance springs. It looks like you may want Curve E (silver-light and blue-light springs), but I am no expert on MSD distributors. It might help to give their online tech support a call. Good luck.

http://documents.msdperformance.com/8485.pdf