1959 CDV - Timing adjustment

[Paul]

Looking for some advice—checked timing and it’s at 5 degrees per the manual. I’ve heard I should adjust the timing toward the “C” to compensate for today’s gas. I use the premium 93 Octane. What do we think about this?

[StevenTuck]

It was recently suggested that I set mine to 7 or 7.5. The '62 and '59 have the same engine.

[Dan LeBlanc]

Every 390 I have had didn't run so well at 5 degrees advance.  7.5 degrees was always the magic number for me.

I use a timing light with a digital advance and that seems to work well for me.

[cadman59]

I've driven my '59 some years with the advance at 5 degrees as per the manual, adjusted with a timing light, but couldn't get it to run as nice as I wanted, plus it ran rather hot contributing to the dreaded vacuum lock.

Now that I've adjusted it more "on feel" and listening to the engine it runs much better, cooler and has a lot more power. I think it will also be at 7 or 8 degrees now.