Advance Ignition Timing for 88 Corolla Gts?

[sleepie]

Hey everyone.. I own a 88 Corolla Gts fwd.. 4age engine.. and I was wondering if I could manually advance the ignition timing or can it only be done by computer? If it involves wrenches n such.. can someone please guide me? I want to advance the timing up to 16 degrees if that's safe for such an old engine.. it has approx. 150k miles on it by the way. Thanks in advance.

[94_Rolla_Guy]

yes you can advance the base timing which will advance total timing. my question is why you want to do this? by advancing it you will lean out the engine cylinder temps will increase and you may develop a knock or ping. if your running on the rich side or lean side sometimes you can tweek it back to stoich a little by adjusting the timing but only in small amounts like + / - 2 deg

[sleepie]

The reason why I want to advance the timing is to get every little bit of power out of this baby..haha. i did research and found out that 16 degrees is a safe number.. plus its better fuel milage.. so another question.. i can advance the timing just by using a wrench and that timing gun thing? Thanks.

[toyotaspeed90]

factory setting should be at 11*

[sleepie]

Thanks for your replies but no one has answered if the ignition timing can be done manually or if it has to be done by computer. If anyone can help me with that that would really help.

[Flashmn]

yes you can advance the base timing which will advance total timing. my question is why you want to do this? by advancing it you will lean out the engine cylinder temps will increase and you may develop a knock or ping

It doesnt lean the mixture, it will just ping, because the piston is still going up when the mixture starts burning. You lose power.
And another point is you wont get more power if your ignition timing at wot goes over the factory setting, which is about 30-32 degrees BTDC.
I think rollaguy answered your question. You wont be able to adjust anything except the base timing, which will affect the timing all around, but it really wont give you power, but you may lose some due to too far advanced timing.
Your timing would be about 15degrees BTDC on idle as stock, one degree wont do anything.

[toyotaspeed90]

^^^ the only thing you will gain is fuel economy with the possibility of pinging (just adding to what you said)

[Flashmn]

You wont gain fuel economy, because you arent taking out any fuel delivery, you just screw up the timing.

[sleepie]

Hmm.. thanks for the replies.. i was curious because my friend did it to his 94 integra ls.. and he could tell there was an improvement.. it pulled more.. he went from 10 degrees to 16.. so yeah.. that's why i was wondering if i could do it with the corolla.. =]

[RedruM]

YES YOU CAN Do it... JUST SAY IT TO YOUR SELF THAT YOU DID and there you go.... you now mentally think your car is advanced to 16degress and therefore you will think you're getting better power


besides just because he can do it on a integra doesnt mean you can do the same to the 4age... every motor is different as for the timing... factory setting should be at 10degrees ...i advanced mine to 13 and got 4whp more but it wasnt worth the pinging and slightly rough idle so went back to 11.. which was ideal.

[fredk]

how is timing connected with rich or lean?

[KnightX_AE86]

if u wanna set your timing theres 2 ways to do it1 - take off your timing belt and set it wit your pully....2 - move the distubutor around....1 thing i'll never mess wit is a timing on a car unless i got a pro to do it..

[fredk]

im outta here

[RedruM]

its connected to rich or lean because timing is exactly what it says TIMING....you're setting the firing times according to the pistons .... if you advance the timing to far ahead then its firing before the fuel and air are compressed fully at the top...
if you retard it too far then you're firing it when the piston is on its way back down and you're loosing the compression on the mixture....

[fredk]

i have to know who told you this