Cam timing help 2

[The General]

So I went to bump up my timing from 14 degrees, where I was running 87 octane to 16-17 degress on 93 octane. So I messed around with a bit since my dads timing gun was broken, and Mike couldnt find his. Ended up really messing it up. We had turned down the timing quite a bit. Then I messed around with it for awhile and eventually got it where I thought it was at 14 degrees. As you can see from the picture where 14 degrees is, my timing mark on the opposite side of the pulley. I had not touched any timing of anything until that one time, when adjusting the timing it is only across a safe spectrum that is dependent on the CAS location, so it can not move the timing mark to where it is now. What would cause the timing mark or timing to move that far?

[Ballistic Motorsports]

You have me F-n confused .. You should only be using the engraved TDC mark . that is TDC

Now what kind of timing light do you have or can get ahold of ? One that you can set the target timing on or just a basic one ?

if basic you set the stamp mark with the 14deg mark . CAr has to be fully warm and idle has to be set correct per OEM specs .

If you have a digi one then you can set the light to 14deg and then you line up the mark to the ( T ) TDC mark

I never seen anyone go past 14deg ... Mine will ping in the summer on bad gas @14deg . The rule on the Miata is 18deg if you never rev it past 5k , and no more than 14deg if you take it to redline . There is a book out there called the Miata performance handbook , they give you all the tricks to finding cheap power

[The General]

thanks for the help scottie heres the thing, its a basic gun. I think the problem might of been that the spark plug thing was hitting more than one wire BUT. it was around 800 rpm as spec'ed on the miata forums. Had the diagnosis set up right. I had everything set up right to the best of my knowledge. I turned on the light, and there was nothing in the general area of where it should be. I was like maybe I just cant see the timing mark. Moved the light around, instead of being on the right side of the pulley, near the top right of the pulley. It was near the top left. Adjusting it all the way down, left the timing somewhere around 22-27 degrees, all the way up something near what I would call 40-50. I dont know what is going on, car runs fine

[Ballistic Motorsports]

You are welcome to stop by tomorrow and I will put my light on it and let you know what it is at and you can go from there ?

[The General]

ran into an interesting thing tonight, found a miata on my way home started to mess around with him, and my car was like hesitating randomly. it would like skip a bit, didnt seem good, but was random and eventually went away. Friday is probably a better day for me to come in

[shizon]

Why is this called cam timing help?

[bayside blue]

Why is this called cam timing help?

He probably named it that because how you change the timing on a miata is with the cam angle sensor which is connected to the intake cam

[The General]

He probably named it that because how you change the timing on a miata is with the cam angle sensor which is connected to the intake cam

thats exactly why, and there was something on a similiar topic already in place. I think I figured it out on my own, found a good medium, without a timing gun, without pinging, no spare gasoline smell, and it runs really really well. So Im leaving it, just gonna add some octane booster before the cruise, so I dont have to worry about elevation changes and call it a day. Im happy.