I'd stay away from pinging. One, it's is bad, that sound is the pistons slapping around in the cylinders and they can crack. Two, the nock sensor is probably trying very hard to retard the timing which is defeating the purpose of advancing it in the first place.

Frank

 

thanks matt and frank, I had it at 14 yesterday and it's pinging some. at 12 the pinging is gone and still some power gain, so that's where it will stay! Glad I was able to raise it a bit successfully. thanks again!

 

Could you take this idea a step further by:
enriching the MAF a couple notches
running colder plugs
using a product line Red Line Water Wetter in the coolant to reduce the head temperature a bit

I think then you'd be able to get a little more advance in. The question is, how would the fuel economy be? I think you would lower it a bit running richer.

 

The fuel economy might go up or down. It just depends. Remember, pinging typically only occurs at high loads and low RPMS. That just happens to be the most efficient way to run an engine (high power to parasitic loss ratio) so you might see an increase in MPG. The water injection will certainly help.

For those that are not able to advance their timing as far as others, Seafoam is another thing to try since carbon build up can initial predetonation.

Frank

 

i dont have a cat on it and my power comes and goes sometimes my truck feels like it will really go and then maybe 3 seconds later its gutless

 

matt16- your ideas are excellent. I use waterwetter and like it a lot.
frank- seafoam is a godsend I love it and use it regularly!
I have never experimented with adjusting the teeth in the AFM. I must admit I am afraid of the innards of the AFM after destroying one of them already. I worry I will unscrew the teeth and then 'sprong' it will be time to buy my 2nd AFM from NAPA which is more than I could bear. (tombstone!)
however I would like to adjust those teeth to see what happens. My main issue is that I do not know how to re-seal the silicone cover on there and not sure if I need to lean or richen the mix.

 

finally found time to play with the timing last weekend, boosted it to 12. with the eb cam this actually ran smoother around town than at 8. ran up loveland pass yesterday (pushed hard up and back--was in a time bind) and found it pulled stronger, no ping on standard unleaded. got home and the surprise was my mileage went up to 22.5, a gain of 1 or so over the past couple of years.
not actually positive its at 12, my vintage '72 timing light went up in smoke as i was doing a final check, but it's close. new one arrives soon, i may try 14-15 just to see how that feels.