Hi
I put a 355 crate engine into my camaro a couple years ago and have had timing issues. Harmonic balancer shows o at top dead center. At first i could only get about 9 degrees inital timing and 28 total timing.. recently i decided to advance it further to manufacture recommendation of 12 degrees inital and 32 degrees total timing...I was barely able to achieve that by forcing the large cap distributor with internal coil all the way against the fire wall. It ran for a day and then would no longer start.. no matter how i turned the distributor it wouldnt start..
Has spark and fuel no start...
A friend told me move each spark plug wire one terminal counter clockwise to get the advance you need and then retard clockwise...
I did that and it runs well and can be more difficult to start when hot but not terrible... the only thing is checking timing from wire at cylinder #1 which is now moved one terminal over on the distributor shows 32 degrees inital timing??? I cannot retard any further but it starts great when cold and runs well
Could the timing be showing incorrect now because the #1 cylinder wire is moved ...am i going to cause engine damage( not pinging).
Thing is it wouldnt start when timing set to what manufacture recommended,,
ANy advice please would be greatly appreciated or what to do or not do at all

 

If the plug wires are moved one tower CCW, the rotor has to be moved the same amount CCW.
ENSURE h/balancer mark matches 0° on the scale with #1 cylinder at physical TDC.