T/A what should it be set too?
- Thread starter 98gtblue
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Venom_Nitrous
Founding Member
every car is different. Elevation, humidity, temp. and fuel choice all make a difference. Keep setting it until you hear some detonation and then set it back a little and that will be you best power. Or just set it with a SOTP dyno method as long as there is no knock.
Set it as high as you can without detonation. Timimg refers to when the charge in the combustion chamber is ignited by the spark. The longer you wait to ignite the more compressed the charge becomes as the piston moves up. As compression increases, spontaneous uncontrolled combustion of the charge becomes more likely although higher octane fuel makes it less likely. This is called detonation and is a real bad thing for the mod motor. You will hear detonation, also called pinging.
Your best bet will be to hit up a dyno shop and get your tune for your car on the spot. That is the safest and most productive method.
Kilgore Trout said:
good explanation Trout. but detonation is bad for all engines, regardless of whether its modular or not.
to the starter of the thread, the timing adjuster allows you to manually adjust how many degress before TDC (top dead center) the spark plug fires, ensuring a more complete burn of the A/F mixture. detonation/pinging occurs if the spark is too soon (or too late). a ping or detonation is when the A/F mixture is ignited in more than one spot, and the two explosions collide. usually the plug is offset on one side of the top of the combustion chamber, so when the plug sparks, the explosion burns across the top of the piston in one solid wave. a ping is when you have two explosions (or more, there will always be at least one spontaneus, or unwanted explosion in a detonation) that interfere with each others "burning progress". pinging is likened to beating on the top of your piston with a hammer. not good
CManT1914
New Member
DerekStangGT said:
good explanation Trout. but detonation is bad for all engines, regardless of whether its modular or not.
to the starter of the thread, the timing adjuster allows you to manually adjust how many degress before TDC (top dead center) the spark plug fires, ensuring a more complete burn of the A/F mixture. detonation/pinging occurs if the spark is too soon (or too late). a ping or detonation is when the A/F mixture is ignited in more than one spot, and the two explosions collide. usually the plug is offset on one side of the top of the combustion chamber, so when the plug sparks, the explosion burns across the top of the piston in one solid wave. a ping is when you have two explosions (or more, there will always be at least one spontaneus, or unwanted explosion in a detonation) that interfere with each others "burning progress". pinging is likened to beating on the top of your piston with a hammer. not good
That's the best explanation of pinging I've heard yet.
CManT1914
New Member
98gtblue said:
I've never really "felt" pinging before, only heard it.
It sounds like marbles rolling around in a tin can. You know, like "ting, ting", or "ping, ping". Hence the name. But definitely back it down a little more if you have it.
fudleyd
New Member
It sounds kind of "tinny." I did the suggested method of advancing until I heard detonation and backed it off. I never had any troubles with 14 degrees and 91 octane. That was before the SCT tune though...
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