[TR] Tuning after rebuilt dizzy from Advanced Dist.

[thenicholls at verizon.net]

Listers, sorry this is a long post (and I have read previous posts before asking) regarding my 1972 Triumph TR6.

My car had Petronix ignition installed by British car shop "A".  When they did it, they plugged off the retard unit at the dizzy and carb and statically timed the car.

Last winter, I had my carbs rebuilt by Jeff at Paltech (thanks #1 to the list for this project).  He returned them to me, I installed them and then took car to get dialed in to British car shop "B".  They said that the retard should be connected and then ran the vacuum from the dizzy to straight under the carbs.  At this point, I had no thermostatic switch in the radiator hose because it did not work, I never have an overheating problem, so I removed it.  They tuned the car to 6 deg BTDC with vacuum plugged and 4 deg ATDC with vacuum connected and it ran great.  At that time, they told me that the carbs were totally leaned out and that they wanted to tear them apart.  I contacted Jeff and he advised me he had some dealings with British car shop "B" and I should not let them tear the carbs apart.

This winter I sent my dizzy for rebuild to Jeff at Advanced Distributors (thanks #2 to the list for this project).  He rebuilt the dizzy and I installed this week.  I currently have the dizzy vacuum retard connected to the carb.

Just got off the phone with Dave at TRF regarding a part I was ordering, and I asked him about this situation.  He stated to me that the unit on my dizzy is a RETARD not an ADVANCE.  He is saying I should rubber plug the retard unit at the dizzy and at the carbs and retune.

So, my question to the list is are people connecting the retard straight to the carbs and using it?  Or, should I plug both the dizzy and carbs and set my timing to a static 10 deg BTDC (which Jeff at AD just recommended as a starting point).

Any advice is appreciated!  Happly holidays to all!

Craig H. Nicholls
Vienna, VA 
1972 Triumph TR6