72 Dart 360 PVC valve issues

To read the timing correctly you need to pull the vacuum advance hose off at the carb and plug that carb port with a short hose and a golf tee.

Also slow the idle way down so the mechanical advance is not engaging.

Should be somewhere around 12 degrees BTDC advanced initial and 30° degrees maximum when it's reved up to 2500 rpm.

If it's got a big cam in it, it won't idle very well as they turn on over 1500 rpm.

Pull one plug and see what it's gapped at, .035 ths or .050 ths. If its .050 ths this can make an additional 4 degrees advance as to what the timing light is telling you because of the wider longer plug spark burning the air/ fuel faster.

It makes a difference, and it's easy to get too much advance causing problems you don't need.

A white chalk mark on the TDC groove in the front balancer will make it easier to read with the timing light.

Marking where TDC is on the timing cover helps also.

The dial back timing lights work nice, as you can dial back the timing so it shows TDC on the balancer, then you read how many degrees BTDC it is showing on the dial pointer.

Easier than trying to read the BTDC degrees down on the timing cover.

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