Lead Additive/Octane Booster

[BAsque1]

Originally Posted by ERA Chas

I suspected as much. Don't contact him-you didn't get the truth when you gave him money; why should he square with you now?
And yes you can change timing and wake that thing up. Being 'happy with the power you have' is not a reason to have an inefficient engine Lou.
Bump the initial to 12 as a start with 36 total and test. If it likes it, go up 2 degrees at a time until it's hard to crank. If it runs-on, kill it with clutch pedal.
If you're unable to do this work, take it to a local dyno-tuner and have them put the correct curve in the distributor-all in by 2600 or so.
It will respond MUCH better but not make so much power to scare you-and you'll get better mpg as a bonus.

Chas:
Thank you for your advise, its funny that you addressed the mpg, because since I got the car the mpg has been a stable 11-12, recently it has gone down to 8-9 and I do see the spark plugs a bit black when in fact that is telling me that I am running too rich.

We check the levels in the carb bowls and that is fine. I will be installing tomorrow an electric gas pump, so I will take the time to recheck the timing following your idea.

Let me ask you this; why do the specs for this engine states the 8* BTDC @ 750 rpm idle? I have literature that says that. That said I have also read that for a single 4 V carb it is 4* and for dual quads is 8*, which is it. At times I feel a bit frustrated that you try all the options you read about and still there is something different. I also read as you said that it goes all the way up to 36*. BTW I do not have vaccumm advance on my dist.
Is there any source (from Ford or reliable) that specifically states the settings? I must assume that I have the factory cam.
Tks
Lou