Originally Posted by hansbuddy70
well normally I run around *36 advance but it made a noticeable difference in power on the dyno at 40, forgot to mention that, but the guy running the dyno said that makes some sense because we aren't allowd to have an alternator and have to run a stock ish HEI ignition and they don't make much spark at 12 volts?? Maby I just need to back down the timing cuz the dyno and the track are two different things
OK, pretty much the bottom of the problem. The "Dyno Guy". He was running it for peak HP, not a curve that you can use on an oval track. At 40°, top end was probably marvelous but coming out of a corner hard unless you were up into the top of the power band wasn't (or shouldn't have been) very impressive. Sounds like an eighth mile Drag Racing Tune Up, almost . .
Running a total loss ignition system with an HEI sounds kind of weird because a stock HEI demands about 20 amps at 6000 RPM or under load, so if you have more than a ten lap heat on a quarter mile track, you're pretty much out of battery. Or at least that's been my experience way back when.
We ran an alternator off the Pinion Yoke, and at the time that was kind of a big deal because of the room required for one of those big ole GM alternators, but today, with 100A alternators the size of a pocket watch, that would be the way I'd go . . I can't imagine a rule like that for Oval Track racing . . Unless the guy who makes the rules also sells magnetos . .