I am a new member to the Classic Mustang family and have some questions. I have a beautiful car but need some help to fine tune it. Here is some history, it is a 69 351W, it has an edelbrock intake, 750 4bbl Holley carb., pop up pistons, 290 degree cam, headers and is bored out 30 over. It has 11:1 compression and runs on a 50/50 mix of premium pump gas and 110 octane race gas. I am trying to get the timing set right for the way this engine was built. I put it on a dyno and was unimpressed with the results of 220hp at the wheels. It does have a C6 transmission which I have been told soaks up about 70hp but at 5,500 rpm's it wasn't sounding very good and I was told the engine should push 7,000 rpm's with no problem. After checking the timing I found it was set at 4 degrees ATDC, yes ATDC. I moved it to 8 degrees BTDC and that made a huge difference. I can easily reach 6,000 rpm's now and it feels like it wants to keep going. Also I think it is set for 34 degrees total timing but have not verified that by taking off the breaker plate. The vac adv. is not hooked up, it is plugged. Any advise on where the timing should be set, total timing, spark plug gap, or point gap would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jim
Thanks,
Jim