lock out dist. or run advance, that is the question
 

I am currently running a 622CI Naturally asperated with all the goodies, what is the best way to set up the dist. Locked out or advancing, and can the ignition sys. limit you to peak power with out any misfire. the ign. is a marine 6 sys. with a 6000 rpm limiter. All who have some input in this area, please speak up.

If no blower, keep the advance. It will run better and smoother throughout the rpm band as well as giving better fuel economy. I have recently swithched to a locked out advance due to a blower set up on a 489 of about 800 HP. It keeps these motors idling more manageable around the docks for better behavior and less chance of a backfire which can cause major damage.

I believe you want to have some timing advance. I have a blown 502 and what I do is set up the dist to run a total advance of 20degrees which gives me a total of 32 accounting for base timing of 12. If N/A you can run as much as 25 in most dist plus base timing. An advance curve will allow you to have a strong top end and see the total potential of your motor. I can not imagine any app where a running base timing throughout the rpm curve is ideal or good. I like the dist's w the dials on the side with built in timing curves. You can try diff curves. Now if you have the MSD DIS6 I would run the curve in the box and set the dist w no advance. THat will accomplish the same thing but keeps it down to one item doing it all.

I had a 622 which later became a 632 due to an oil pick-up falling off:rolleyes: I ran locked timing, (32 degrees) from day one. It made 900HP on pump gas with Dart 360's and tunnel ram..solid roller, etc. I persobnally feel with the timing locked motors start and idle better....and you never have to worry about the tiny springs getting rusty, breaking, etc. I know several others who run timing locked on both blown and NA with never any issues...the only people I've ever heard about having issues are the one's running timing curves...:drink: And NO it will not kill your starter...have never seen any failures there...put 50 degrees in it then sure, it will be hard on the starter...:D

Somewone should seriously put up a poll on people who run curves vs people who don't and see who has problems.