From: Lee Chang (l2chang@uci.edu)
It's a lot easier to do this with another person, so grab a friend
before you start. Before you advance the timing on an Integra you need
to first put a jumper in the passenger side socket or you'll get an inaccurate
reading. To get to the socket, remove the kick panel under the passenger
side dash(there should be two tabs holding it on). Then reach up and grab
pull out the big green socket, which is actually a socket cover holding
two blue sockets. Pull off the cover and put a paper clip or thin wire
into the two holed socket to form a circuit. If you did this right, you
should see the check engine light stay on when the car is running. Hook
up your timing gun to the rubber coil on the distributer cap and the wire
for plug #1.
Now, to find the timing marks, look on the pulley on the lower driver side of the engine. You should be able see to two marks on the belt with a timing gun, a red one and a white one on top. To find the actual reading, zero your gun and look to see where the red mark falls against the engine block. This, duh, is your zero-mark. Remember where this is. If you have small enough hands, reach down and mark it with a pencil Now play with the adjustment on the gun until the white mark falls onto the "zero-mark". The reading on the gun should say 16 BTDC +/- 2 degrees which is factory, mine said 15 BTDC. Set the gun at 18 BTDC and loosen the three bolts(careful it might be hot!) on the ditributor and move it counter-clockwise until the white mark hits the "zero-mark". This is where that friend comes in handy, one to do the moving and one to do the looking. When it's set, tighten everything back up and shut the motor off before you remove the jumper.
From: Somchanok Prathnadi (prat@lan.nsc.com)
|=Pointer | V B R B White= TDC ____________________________________ I I I I ____________________________________ Right ? ------> 18 16 14 0 == == == ^ |_____ was this Mine is like this with connector shorted.
Timing is advanced by rotating the distributor. The distributor is held in place by 3 bolts. You will need a socket and extension for the lower two, and a box end wrench for the top one (can't get a socket on there). Do this while the engine still retains a little heat from driving as it will make it easier to loosen the bolts. Wait a while though or you'll get burned. O.k., you'll note that there is a mark on the top bracket that connects the distributor to the block. If there isn't one, make on. This is your reference so you know what the original timing is. Get a fine tip marker and make several similar marks along the bracket (closely spaced) on the left side of the original one (looking from the passenger side). Now loosen up the distributor and rotate it counterclockwise to the first mark. Tighten it up, warm up the engine and go drive it up a grade in as high a gear as possible without lugging. Turn the air on too. If it pings, and you will hear it, you've go too much advance. The knock sensor will pull back the timing, but you will still pick up a bit of ping. If it didn't ping, go back and rotate it another mark and so on till you get ping, then back it off one mark. By testing it at full load, you can ensure that at no other time will you have to worry about the engine pinging.
Note that if you do this in winter, you may need to adjust it again in the summer. I did mine on a 90 degree day so I'm not worried. I gained 2 mpg and better low RPM power. 5th pulls a lot nicer on the freeway. I advanced mine about half of the additional adjustment between the original mark and max advance. Tim Kelley advanced his all the way for max power on the dyno. BTW, by advancing your timing, you're doing half of what an aftermarket chip will do, for free!
Okay, for those of you thinking: "Wait a minute, what about the knock sensor and the ability of the stock computer to retard timing?" After further discussion with Shawn, we think that the '94+ Integras uses the distributor timing as a base. The computer then works off of this base timing, adjusting the curve of the timing depending on load conditions. Henry advanced his timing and he saw very noticeable improvements with his modified GS-R. Blipping the throttle on heal-toe downshifts was faster with the engine reving to the desired speed much faster. We both advanced it to halfway of the maximum amount of timing. You probably don't want to go much further than this because advancing the timing will cause you problems if you don't run super unleaded. Be careful and don't go overboard with it.
From: Adam Glass (aglass@delphi.com)
Advancing your timing too far can lead to nice round holes in your
pistons and/or blown head gaskets. And you (and your knock sensor) won't
necessarily hear the increased pressure and temperatures if the timing
is just a little too far advanced. I'm not saying that advancing timing
WILL cause problems, but I'd caution people to think twice about advancing
it past max spec. The spec is something like x degrees BTDC +/- y degrees
-- in other words, be very careful about advancing it past x+y degrees
BTDC.
These are wise words of caution from Adam. After some testing we
did, we actually found that the good timing advance point was just a little
over +2 advanced which is on the spec: 16 +/- 2 BTDC at 750 +/- 50 rpm
with all electrical systems off and shift lever in neutral.
From: Shawn Church After going out and checking the distibutor,
I've advanced mine about 6mm past the factory reference mark. I went as
far as 12mm and got ping. I was running maybe 7 or 8, but reduced it because
I was doing some dyno runs on the car. Tuan actually used a timing light
on his, so maybe he can tell you how far 2 degrees is. Of course, this
will vary from car to car. Another owner has advanced his as far as it
will go (mechanically), but his car is heavily modified.
For reference, ping will occur under heavy load and sound like a little
tapping, rattling or pinging from under the hood. I find it easy to hear
when the windows are closed to tone down the tire and wind noise. On your
car, you shouldn't hear more than a ping or two at a time as the computer
will pull back your timing. Theoretically, I guess you could advance your
timing all the way and let the computer keep you at the bleeding edge.
However, since we don't know how much the computer retards timing, you
might actually be running less advance that way. Example: advance timing
3 degrees, no ping. Advance 4 degrees, get ping, computer pulls back timing
2 degrees, net 2 degrees advance.
Be sure to read the latest update on the page as well. 18 degrees is
about as far as you want to go (I'm still not sure how Tim Kelley went
to full mechanical advance).
If it's that cold, you should definitely be able to advance quite a
bit. I've really been wanting to try some race gas (105-110 octane) with
full advance on a cold night, then again, who knows what the side effects
might be :-).
From: LKY 12/11/95
when I advance my ignition timing using a timing gun, I found that
the factory set the ignition timing below the red mark (red mark = 16 btdc).
I also found the same thing on my friend's GSR. I think you should advance
your timing at least to the red mark. I'm sure you can feel that the engine
is more easy to rev up.
From: Shawn Church
Xmas morning the first thing I did was go warm up my car and check
the timing. Turns out I had it set at about 16.5 for the dyno run. I set
it back to the original mark from the factory and it read about 14.5-15
BTDC - actually below the median spec! I then checked it at the mark where
I got pinging, about 18.5 to 19 - no wonder! I then proceeded to set it
to 18 on the nose and its been wonderful ever since, no pinging, free revving,
etc.
From: Gary Shrieves (gshrieve@vt.edu) 01/12/96
Not to beat the issue to death, but since an Acura lacks timing graduations
like that of most American cars, make your own template! Measure the diameter
of your crankshaft pulley with a ruler. On a piece of paper, use a compass
to draw a circle of that diameter. Mark a line on the top of the circle.
This is 0 or 16 deg, either way. Then, take a protractor and measure off
the degrees increasing in a counterclockwise direction (this will be advanced).
Now you will have an exact template in scale of timing marks.
Additionally, when adjusting the timing, don't forget to put a jumper in the socket under the passenger side dash! If not, it will be inaccurate.
Thanks to Chris, Jeff and Tony of Pro-Dyno for their assistance. Pro-Dyno can be reached at (602) 967-5550.
The results also indicate that despite strong seat of the pants feel, headers do little to benefit WOT performance (part throttle may be/is improved) when used without a free flowing exhaust. The results do clearly show, however, that a free flowing exhaust, combined with headers, can add significant benefits, especially in the midrange area. The results also show that the gains from an exhaust taper off after the secondaries on the motor open up. It is the belief of this tester that VTEC motor is designed to run leaner once the secondaries open and therefore is not getting enough fuel to compensate for the additional air flow the modifications provide. This additional air flow leans out the midrange mixture enough to gain significant power, but is too lean for the range above 6000 rpm.
It is also the opinion of this tester that the performance of the latest modifications will be enhanced by a timing boost at least as much as the previous configuration was. This would tend to indicate a slight softening in the torque curve from 3000-4000 rpm while picking up significant low end (sub 3000) and high end (above 5000 power). Predictions for a power peak of 156-157 hp and a torque peak of 125 lb-ft are reasonable. A Dinan chip will be tried to richen up the top end mixture and see if power gains are realized.
It remains to be seen how much more power and torque an ignition system, adjustable cam sprockets, and a ported and polished manifold can add. It should be noted, however, that these mods will probably provide less hp for more money - the law of diminishing returns. The first set of modifications offers 25-30 hp for less than $1000. The last three will cost $1500-2000 assuming the owner can disassemble the intake manifold and install cam sprockets (there is a far greater consequence for mistakes here than in installing the first set of mods). It is unlikely that the car will gain much more than the 25-30 hp picked up originally (but it is still worthwhile). If you have a non-VTEC car, cams would be an excellent first step after the bolt on mods - these will typically return about 10-12 hp at the wheels.