I was wondering if you ever had any problems when tuning a car's computer with valvetrain noise. I have the Full roller rockers and I am getting spark retard at idle. As soon as I give it gas, it goes away. Any ideas?

 

I have the same problem, about 3* or so.

 

So it is a problem. I noticed it as soon as the car warmed up, it started pulling timing and I could notice the rockers ever so slightly. I know the rockers are adjusted nice. I have to figure a way to correct this.

 

Knock retard, especially false, is very difficult to deal with. There are so many things that can cause it, that sometimes you just can't do anything about it and some people just choose to disable it.

My 95 for example has maximum knock retard even at the lightest touch of throttle. I am sure the engine is OK and there's nothing wrong with it, but I still could not find a cure even after replacing tons of parts, fixing exhaust leaks, etc. It stayed just the same. So I disabled it and went easy on the timing and always used the highest octane available.

There are also other cars with rattles, noises, squeaks, exhaust leaks, etc that do not have any knock retard whatsoever. Try to figure that one out....

I've tuned both types before, but in your case Ron, if you're getting knock retard just at idle, I wouldn't worry much about it.

 

Well I need to disable if I could at idle. I noticed if I floor it immediately, the motor seems like it stumbles, and every once in while it backfires. I have gone over the valves and they are great. I have replaced all sensors except IAC which will be tomorrow. I have checked over every nook and cranny on this car. It just has it at idle and pulls 7.0 sometimes. It only does it when the car gets to operating temps and then I can slightly hear the rockers. But as soon as I start giving it gas. It starts going away. Almost immediately. This is a brand new motor and it runs superb except for this timing retard at idle. Any ides on how to disable it?

 

You can just zero out the knock retard VS RPM table in the 400-1200 area. If that doesn't help, try zeroing out the Retard Vs Temp (burst knock) table.