Well the dealership did advance the timing by 5 degrees (for free) and you can clearly feel it. The car is more responsive and has more torque throughout the band. On the negative side, it tends to stall more easily in very low rev. while in 1st or reverse.

 

I'm pretty sure that with the increase in timing, it could improve hp gains with the installation of exhaust and intake. It would be nice to do a Dyno test. Oh well, I'll have to wait until my dealer gets the computer...

 

Just one thing to be careful about with timing advance, keep your ears open for detonation (pinging). Engines are much much much more apt to detonate with advanced timing. Oh, and that is very bad on an engine

 

just got mine retarded back to stock.

http://www.altimas.net/forum/showthr...threadid=89658

 

I read your post about retarding the timing on your Altima. I don't experience the same thing with the Z, even if it's the same engine. The ride is still smooth as before. Perhaps due to the grounding kit ?

 

EWOOD420, Do you run 91 orr 93 octane gas?

 

For anyone that is interested... timing can be advanced, and it will stay. (even when the Consult II is unplugged.) It does not take 20 min. It takes 2 minutes or less. Plug the Consult II in, wait for it to sync up and, than 3 options later you are adjusting the timing. And it will go more that 2 degrees. I have tried 2, 3, 4, and now I am running 5 degrees of advance timing. Yes, you can tell the difference.
( I guess I am lucky as I have access to the Consult II)

Dweeb

 

Advancing the timing of the spark plugs will work on any car assuming that the timing is set conservatively which is probably the case in ANY factory car.

I assume that like most new performance cars the 350Z has a knock sensor (or more). The only qestion is wether the Z has fuzzy logic for timing. If so, it may already be optimized with the computer advancing timing to the optimum level. I would assume that forcing a timing advance on this setup may cause detonation and a subsequent effort by the ECU to back off timing. This could cause 3 diffrent results:

1. The ECU backs off timing to the optimum level and thus noting is achieved since timing is returned to the previous level.

2. The computer does not have the range to back off timing as much as it was advanced and runs a little more lean than the computer likes, but is safe enough to get gain some horsepower.

3. The ECU can not back off timing and causes pinging, or worse yet detonation and a blown or comprimized engine. For the record I do not believe 3 will happen, but that is only a guess.

Have at it!

Ari

m3@dslextreme.com

 

Hey guys

03 Maxima owner here. I have also had my timing advanced 3 degrees and have felt a difference as have many other Maxima owners. I concur, it does only take about 2 minutes. However I was under the impression that although you can advance the timing to +4 and +5, that it will not hold unless a special procedure has been followed. Dweeb, have you checked to see if your +5 advance has held?

 

Yup, it is holding.... next time i am at my friends work (thats where the Consult II is), i will take some pictures or video and post the whole procedure. I don't remember him doing anything special, but i wasn't watching, i was driving the car at that time and he was doing it from the passenger seat. I will ask him thou...

Dweeb

 

What exactly is detonation? Someone please explain

I think if this makes a difference, I will go ahead and have the timing advanced. I just don't want to lose any power because the ECU tries to readjust. ANd I defnintely don't want my engine to go bad

 

First off, here are the basics of a 4 stroke engine (almost all automotive engines built).

1. Gas is squirted into the combustion chamber
2. The rotation of the engine compresses the gasses
3. The spark ignites the compressed gasses
4. The ensueing explosion propells the rotation of the engine back to a point where 1. is done again.

This is all done around the rotation of the engine, like in a clock-wise circle if you could look at the front of the engine cut away. When the rotation reaches the very top of its circle, it comes to the point of Top Dead Center (TDC) which is what spark advance is based on. Advanceing your timeing too much in 3 might cause the ignition of the compressed gasses to actually try to push the rotation of the engine COUNTER-clockwise. That is called detonation or pinging. Its kind of like driving down the road and slamming the car into reverse. Now, a little big of ping once isnt going to damage an engine. But prolonged detonation at high RPMs will demolish it.

Hope that helps. Lots more to add but didnt want to blabber on anymore.

 

This sounds promising. Wonder if my Dealer will do mine becaue I have intake exhaust and N20 ???

Hmmmm...

 

Wouldn't try it unless you you know what you are doing. N2O makes detonation more likely. You may even want to retard timing a little, especially when you squeeze.

Ari

m3@dslextreme.com

 

I was wondering about the effect on my N20 because my new plugs run 2 steps colder than stock.

It just sounds like a good cheap mod.

The optimum setup for me would be like the OBDII type plug in flasher Hypertech with dual mode.

One for street improvement and one for track (N20) mode and the ability to switch between the two.

I hope someone makes something like this!

I loved my Hperteck Power Programmer. When squeezing we would back off the shifting points to minus two. When N/A it was plus 2. Removed speed and rev limiters too. All kinds of stuff.

We need something like this for our cars. SOON!



3 Stage Power Programmer

 

Looking to adjust my ECU at Dealership, need the correct settings...

 

SO has anyone recently advanced the timing and felt some gains with the ole butt dyno?

 

IGN TIMING: 17BTDC (that's advanced 5 degrees)

 

Considering we can get 94octane gas, would there be less chance of pingging and do you think we'd be able to get more gain?