When I took it out for a drive I noticed the car had a noticeable amount of pick up and go and I was really happy with it, however it pinged now under any type of load. Load being pulling away from a stop sign at night. I could only “gingerly” accelerate to keep it from pinging. This is with it still at 12 BTC. So I figured I would decrease the initial and see what happens.
Well I was able to drop it to 8 BTC and took it out for a ride last night and pleased to report that there was no more ping. However, the engine temperature did not like the change. The temp gauge fluctuated like it never did before and after parking it for a couple minutes there was a puddle of coolant sitting under the over flow tube that was about 6 inches in diameter. Again, never did that before.
From what I am reading mopar big blocks can like 12-16 BTC with around 30-36 total timing. So it would make sense that when I back off the timing the temperature raises a bit (at least that is what I gather from searching mopar forums). But with me putting the timing in that 12-16 range I get pinging, which from what I read is too much timing. OR, a lean mixture.