I just brought the car to the shop for some stuff and the timing. I told the guy that i wanted an 8 degree advance. He took it as I wanted 8 degrees total. Is he right? if not, what is the correct wording I should use to tell him what I really want. Thanks.

 

you would tell him 8*BTDC (before top dead center) that would mean that if you timing was at 6* you would have bumped it up 2*

 

So everyone telling me I should have a 6-8 degree advance means that it should be 6-8 BTDC not that if it was 4 BTDC to start with, it should now be 12?

 

With the timing advance wire disconnected, it should be 6 deg BTDC. GM Motors are always 6 deg.

 

Yeah, but I don't want the stock timing. I want to bump it up to the greatest performance that i can get and still run safe.

 

no you do not want 8 degrees total timing, 8 degrees is the initial timing

total timing should be around 36 or so, depending on applications

 

Holy crap I am confused! So what should I tell the guy at the shop I want in such a way that there will be no other way to understand it? (that is: I want to advance the timing to gain the most performance out of the motor).

Sorry for my ignorance.

 

Tell him to set the ignition timing to 6 deg with the advance removed unless you have a 3.1 engine