Is there a point of diminishing returns on timing advance?

[84gt347]

High initial timing or a locked distributor at a high rate of timing can cause cooling problems in street cars, and thats not a rule of thumb, but something to watch out for. If your not having any starter problems or detonation problems now, watch out for them under extreme driving conditions, most notably, heat. Imo, it is better to have a higher initial timing and less in the distributor. I use a msd and it is adjustable. I have a pretty high compression ratio and 16 initial seems to let my car warm up quicker than i like. You'll find what you like, with a little experimenting. I still say, at the track, you can monitor your mph and tell when the mph drop off is and you'll know more for sure where it runs best. Start low and eek it up a couple of degrees at a time till you max out mph and quit there. Stop right where it maxes out, and hopefully you will have a safe amount of timing. imo more than 36 may work and not detonate, but i'll bet 34 to 36 would get you the same mph in the quarter and be a safer setup.