Is my ignition too retarded?

With Turbo and Super charging you can create massive horsepower with vw motors.
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slowsixtyduece
Posts: 676
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2002 12:01 am

Is my ignition too retarded?

Post by slowsixtyduece »

So Ive been starting to do some ignition tuning, again. I know that each engine has what it likes, but as I compare my ignition with many others, it seems like my timing is awfully retarded. I have tried advancing in the 1500-2750 range by about 3-4 degrees but it did not build boost much and felt soggy and slow to respond.

Heres my current ignition map:
RPM Degrees
1000 13*
1250 15*
1500 18*
1750 21*
2000 23*
2250 25*
2500 28*
2750 31*
3000 32*
3250+ 32*

Does my timing seem unconventionally retarded or is it still within ballpark of what most hi performance turbo VW engines like?

Also, I retard about 1 degree of timing per every pound of boost, effectively reducing the ignition retard even more as the manifold pressure builds up. Motor is a 2276 EFI motor w/ T3/4 hybrid turbo, Engle V-26 cam on 112 lobe centers, Shag ported 40x37.5 heads, single 50mm TB, etc.

Thanks.
Clonebug
Posts: 4719
Joined: Thu Feb 15, 2007 9:28 pm

Re: Is my ignition too retarded?

Post by Clonebug »

Do you have any intake cooling going on like an intercooler or W/I???

That will determine your boost retard by a large degree.
When on the dyno We added 4.0 plus degrees timing at full boost due to colder intake temps with a W/I and intercooler combo.
I am now at 24 degrees advance at 22 lbs. boost.
I was down to 18-19 lbs before that.
We also raised the timing at mid rpm and gained a little torque in one map area. The dyno showed a slight dip in the torque curve and adding a little timing smoothed it out.
With my intake temps so low I do not have MAT retard working. That will be the next step to see if I can figure out when it starts pinging and pull timing as the air warms up through Spring and Summer.

I don't think you are too far out of line compared to mine.....but it will all depend on a multitude of factors which include compression, heads, IAT's and possibly other things.
You can experiment and listen carefully for pinging....although that is a slippery slope to be messing with.
If I don't have W/I on it will ping quite easily so I am on the edge when running at high boost.
How you want to go about it is really up to you.......are you conservative or not??? :lol: 8) :shock: :wink:

You could try adding timing in the 2250-3000 rpm range to ramp it up faster but only in the light cruise or under 100 kpa areas
I run 36 degrees timing at 60-70 kpa cruise ramping down to 30 at 100 kpa.
I'm going to work on going to 40 plus degrees in the light cruise this spring if I ever get time to mess with it.
It still runs pretty nice driving to work and back but it might make a difference on the long cruises.
I'm not so much going for mileage since it is a performance car not a efficiency car.
Stripped66 wrote:The point wasn't to argue air temps with the current world record holder, but to dispel the claim that the K03 is wrapped up at 150 HP. It's not.
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