Max timing (mod)?

[superdan]

So I borrowed a timing gun the other week to do the timing mod on our mk1 1.6. Turned out the timing was already at about 13deg and runs great at this.

Now I was sure I had read 'on the internet' that the common 14 deg mod worked on 95RON unleaded (and lower if you read American forums) but if you use super unleaded exclusively you could actually go to 16deg as the higher RON rating reduces detonation potential and so my inference was 16deg on 98RON was as safe as 14deg on 95RON and would get a fraction more power. As such the timing is now at 16deg and not been used since.

Anyone any experience of 16deg? I've had a bit of a retrospective, have I done the right thing? ;-)

[wannabe]

IIRC Skuzzle said to me that the timing mod is pretty variable - the exact degrees required depends on the individual car - and that they'd even seen some with 20degrees.

I think the only way to know exactly what will give the best power is to get it on a rolling road and tweak it through some power runs.

[ghostrider]

When I got my 91 Eunos turboed back in 2014 I asked the mechanic to retard the ignition to 6degrees, as you do - he told me that he had to bring it down from 18!! I'd been driving it for three years like that and had absolutely no idea. It was my daily, ran fine on regular unleaded, did about 300miles to the tank on a straight run, always felt pretty peppy (but still slow) but I had nothing to yardstick it against so I thought it was normal...

[superdan]

Thanks for that chaps, I'm happy it may not add any more power but satisfied it's not going to detonate now