Does anyone still do that sort of thing to gain a bit of power? When I got my Paseo back in 1996, I found the power very lacking with the AC on. I did some research and realized I could turn the timing up a bit (and switch to 93octane fuel) to gain a bit of power. This did the trick, making the car much peppier and easier to drive with the AC running (although it didn't rev well past 5500rpm any longer). 110k miles later, the car is still running fine.

I never hear about people doing that with 4Runners. Actually, I don't hear of many tuning mods, just bolt on stuff. Is this a result of OBD-II?

Chris

 

I know on the 3.0 V6 is does not work, it makes it ping, even on Super high test.

My timing awas advanced by only two degrees and I had poor performance, and pinging.

I did not realize the timing was advanced until I took it into the dealer for something else and I asked him to check it while it was there.

He set it back to stock and I had more power and all the pinging went away.

On old cars from the 70's, advancing the timing always worked as I use to experiment a lot on my '68 327 Chevelle a lot.

 

That goes along with what I heard about japanese engines coming from the factory with a high level of tuning. I was able to turn my Paseo's timing up 5degrees. It probably didn't make more power, but it put the power where I needed it (in the 2000-4500 range instead of 3000-5500 range). At 190k miles, it pings in hot weather while under load, but since I'm not going to have it much longer, I could care less.

Chris