Originally Posted by MILD THUNDER

Timing locked is a common thing alot of guys do that are running blowers, big cams, etc. For example on my setup, the mechanical advance inside my MSD distributor, is 'locked" out .Meaning there is no centrifugal advance. Say 34* is what you want. Locked, simply means its always at 34*. Whether it be idle, cruise, or WOT.

I used to run the 18* bushing in my distributor. What that meant, was that it would give me 18* of mechanical advance, and the springs determined WHEN that advance came in. I used to run my timing at that time at 30* total, which gave me 12* at idle. With that setup, a 250 blower, and a dominator carb, the engine always wanted to puke when shifting, and generally didnt idle all that well. Once I locked the timing, it no longer stalled, and the idle cleaned up much better.

Being that you have the merc ignition, i think the V6 module is the way to go imo. You should have no starter issues. I have many boat buddies who run their stuff locked at 32, 34, 35, etc, and have no starting issues.

If you really want to get trick, theres some great distributors out there now, that have fully programmable timing curves built in. You can do things like start retard, keep timing up at idle, then pull some back at peak torque, and add it back in at wot, etc. Thats really the best setup. But, they are around 350-450 bucks for one of those.

Originally Posted by tpabayflyer

I also am using the 24* module with 10* initial and a total of 34 with my 509.....idle is OK.....I have a 22* module as a spare that I can use if I have to buy gas on the water. I use 93 with my 10.2-1 C/R.....I am using a mighty demon 850 and it took me a while to get the idle right. I had to make sure the throttle blades were not open to far at idle and bypassing the idle circuit. I mounted an AEM air/fuel gauge and it really helped getting the idle right..... Here is a quick vid o my idle before tuning and it was very rich a 11.5-1....... It is now around 13.5-14.0 at idle and has a nice, snappy bark now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0for...e_gdata_player

Originally Posted by the deep

34* is 34* under load or not . Play hell setting timing whilst running down the lake .

Originally Posted by the deep

Play hell setting timing whilst running down the lake .

Originally Posted by SB

You first.

Originally Posted by Budman II

My idle started off at around 11 during the dyno session. He enlarged the idle air bleed slightly to address this, and it did take it to around 14 at idle. Cleaned up my black transom disease, but I think we may have leaned it out a little too much. Had to take the idle screws out about 2 1/2 turns to get it to go into gear without stumbling all over itself.

Originally Posted by Budman II

Cue up image of Budman screaming down the lake in the boat with my legs hanging out from under the hatch while setting my timing.

Originally Posted by SB

You could play it safer by sitting in a bucket of water, hold ignition wire #1 - at the terminal on distributor of course- and just point a finger from your other hand at the balancer.

If you need a brighter light just grab a buddies Series 7 MSD box.