Quote: intial timing is a little less than 10 degrees and my distributor has a limit of 24 factory. Also have a vacuum advance.
Are you saying that the limit of 24 factory is the centifugal therefore giving you a total of 34 with the vacuum advance plugged off. First bump the timing up to 12 and you want the centri. to be fully in at around 2200 rpm. Hook your vacuum guage to the manifold like said above. What are the specs on the cam shaft and do you know what the comp ratio is. The ticking could also be a exhaust manifold leak so make sure your bolts are all tight and does the ticking seem to go away when you rev the engine up.
