Poor idle and off-idle performance after distributor swap

Ported, absolutely. Ran 12btdc on old distributor with 25 mech. New distributor has 20 mech, so I bumped initial up to 16. Will test on hotter day giving it more advance.



The bouncing timing mark worried me too, but it the car runs well now and still has the bouncing timing mark. I wonder if it is my inova dial-back timing light, but anything past 12btdc disappears under the water pump/timing cover so I have no other way of verifying. The bounce does appear to get more pronounced the more I advance timing on the light/gun. Before the rebuild, I installed the V-6 timing chain tensioner and my timing was rock solid using a non-dial back light, but it was also at 12. I hope the machine shop that rebuilt the motor used the tensioner, oil dripper tab and hollow bolt, oil slinger, etc. but its not worth tearing down the frontend just to look. Might be a winter project in conjunction with an aluminum water pump housing.

There is a way to verify. Buy some timing tape, verify tdc accurately, and mark your balancer. You’ll be able to read timing at any advance.