Advancing ignition timing

Hey everybody,

I want to advace my timing but am unsure of the negatives. I have read on the SR20.net or what ever, how to do it and its benifits. One guy there said that it would lose power in summer in the warmer months more so because of the advanced timing. Is this true? My car already loses a lot in the summer months and its at the stock setting (i hope) but i have also been told that that could be due to something else. I have to be carefull here in NZ as our fuel can be crap and often there are variations in the octane rating. Mobil in NZ are now doing a 98 octane Synergy feul which i find all of the synergy fuels work really well in my Primera. But it is hard to differentiate between American ratings and our NZ ratings as they are different.

Any help and/or input would be much apreciated.

P.S. I can blow off 1.6 FXGT toyota's in winter but i still want to in summer!!:(

I wouldn't think you'd lose power in the summer due to timing, only to the higher intake air temps (less dense air). I live in Arizona, where we can see temperatures as high as 120 degrees fahrenheit (about 49 Degrees C). With my timing at 19 degrees and running 92 octane gas I didn't hear any detonation, but truthfully, I was probalby pushing it. I never really got on it when it was that hot out (car runs like crap when it is that hot) so i don't know how it'd do at WOT, but under normal driving conditions I didn't hear any detonation, that's about the only reason I can think that you would lose power.
The biggest downside i see to the advanced timing is the extra money spent on gas, since you require a better grade once you advance the timing.

I've advanced my timing, but I'm not sure what it's set to. There's 5 marks to read off, and I assumed they were 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20. My mechanic advanced the timing by ear, and their was no detonation or attempt at comphensation by the ECU. When trying to check it with the timing light it looked like it was up around 25?! However the car ran beautifully... But just to be safe we pulled it back to around 19. I might have another play with it sometime and see if I can figure out what's going on...

Originally posted by jasestu
I've advanced my timing, but I'm not sure what it's set to. There's 5 marks to read off, and I assumed they were 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20. My mechanic advanced the timing by ear, and their was no detonation or attempt at comphensation by the ECU. When trying to check it with the timing light it looked like it was up around 25?! However the car ran beautifully... But just to be safe we pulled it back to around 19. I might have another play with it sometime and see if I can figure out what's going on...


jasestu can you go to SE-R.net and go to site map on the left then all the way down to info, which has the heading "about ignition timing". On there is a graph or picture of how what the different lines mean that are on the belt. I am wondering if they are the same as whats on your car because that means yours is probably set to about 15 degrees which is about what i would think is safe running 96 or even 98 octane petrol.

I would really greatly apreciate this as i'm trying to find the trade off for safe running while at its maximum power.:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Also do U know what it was set to standard, did you notice a difference and was it a big difference??? Sorry for lumping this all on you but this is the next Mod i want to do but i always like to research it thoroughly before messing with things that mess big time with the computer.:flash:

Oh and can anyone tell me the differences between our octane (NZ) and the American's/U K's etc as well.:D :D :D :D

Originally posted by Primal SMX
jasestu can you go to SE-R.net and go to site map on the left then all the way down to info, which has the heading "about ignition timing". On there is a graph or picture of how what the different lines mean that are on the belt. I am wondering if they are the same as whats on your car because that means yours is probably set to about 15 degrees which is about what i would think is safe running 96 or even 98 octane petrol.

Yeah, I visited there a while ago, but the timing marks that they describe don't appear to be anything like what mine are.


I would really greatly apreciate this as i'm trying to find the trade off for safe running while at its maximum power.:)
Also do U know what it was set to standard, did you notice a difference and was it a big difference???

Well, after after having the mechanic adjust it by ear the car seemed much more 'responsive' (I can't really describe it). As for worrying about damaging things there's little risk. The ECU will screw with things if you're getting detonation, but it'll be really noticable, so you'll know you've advanced it too far. The best time to hear the detonation if you've advanced it too far is when you load the motor hard, like 3rd gear and going only 20km up a slight rise for example.

Originally posted by jasestu


Well, after after having the mechanic adjust it by ear the car seemed much more 'responsive' (I can't really describe it). As for worrying about damaging things there's little risk. The ECU will screw with things if you're getting detonation, but it'll be really noticable, so you'll know you've advanced it too far. The best time to hear the detonation if you've advanced it too far is when you load the motor hard, like 3rd gear and going only 20km up a slight rise for example.

Thanks a lot buddy, i think i'll try and do the timing next week or so after i buy some new EBC brake pads. I have to wait so that i can buy a timing light. DOH! :buck :buck :buck :buck