I Do not have much experience with proformance engine timing my 69 camaro has a 350 engine i suppose the horsepower is around 325 to 350 when i put my light on the timing marks it shows it to be greatly advanced (30 degrees ar more its way off the scale) is this unusual?? If so how do you correctly time this car?? Thank you!

If you are talking initail advance then yes that is not right.

Total timing should be somewhere in the 34-38 degree range.

Total timing is when the advance stops increasing,generally about 3200-4000 rpm.
This is measured with a dial back timing light,with the vacuum advance disconnected.

What kind of distributor do you have?
What kinds of parts are on the engine?
What are the cam specs?

I am not sure of the cam or heads i just bought the car and the previous owner didn't build it he just bought it 4 years earlier i do know that it has an HEI distributor from a late seventies chev(at least that is what it resembles to me) Sorry I cannot be of anymore help

do you know if your vacuum advance is hooked to ported or manifold vacuum on the carb? the ported connection would be located slightly higher on the carb than the manifold vacuum port. manifold vacuum would advance your timing at idle and give a higher reading like you're getting. you would need to unhook the vacuum advance to get the initial timing if that's the case.

yes it is hooked up higher up on the carb just below the air cleaner

ok no responses eh ... well lets spurr something .. is it right to assume that because at idle my timing marks are somewhere near the top of the harmonic balancer and my car runs like crap if i try to bring them back to where they should be that the chain might of skipped a tooth?

ok no responses eh ... well lets spurr something .. is it right to assume that because at idle my timing marks are somewhere near the top of the harmonic balancer and my car runs like crap if i try to bring them back to where they should be that the chain might of skipped a tooth?

Sound like one of two things. The outer ring on the balancer has slipped or more likley you have a late balancer with an early timming cover.You need to put #1 cylinder on top dead center and see where the timming marks are at.Remove #1 plug and use something soft stuck in plug hole to get TDC on that cylinder.Then check the marks.
Not likly that timming chain has jumped.

I didn't realize that there were two different harmonic balancers on that engine and sense there is a new one in the truck that would make sense hahaha i was wondering why there was a harmonic balancer in the trunk when I bought it. I guess i will go buy me a pully and give it a tug i haven't had to do this in years ... What fun I feel like a kid again! Thank you very much!

I didn't realize that there were two different harmonic balancers on that engine and sense there is a new one in the truck that would make sense hahaha i was wondering why there was a harmonic balancer in the trunk when I bought it. I guess i will go buy me a pully and give it a tug i haven't had to do this in years ... What fun I feel like a kid again! Thank you very much!

Well I switched out the balancer on saturday that bought the mark to where it should be thank you very much .. but the car doesn't seem to run well when accelerating... idles well low rpm everythings good .. under acceleration it bogs down ... do you think that i should try changing the springs in the distributor?

I wouldn't go changing things just yet...you need to try and get the tune in the ballpark first. Do you have any idea whats in the engine? Or any way of finding out (previous owner maybe)? What is your timing set at now, with the vac advance disconnected and plugged off (to prevent a vac leak)? Have you tested the cranking compression? Adjusted the idle mix screws for the highest vac at idle? Get the basics out of the way, see what you have to work with, and we should be able to get you fixed up. What kind of carb/intake/exhaust system is on the car? Engine size? You get the idea ;)

I am certain that this is a 350 engine. the timing is currently set at 7 degrees (idle at 900rpm) mixture screws are tuned to the highest rpm as far as compression I don't have the numbers but I have had a low (old)compression engine run far better under thottle than this one does. It sounds good while sitting but once you get moving it sputters ... It sounds like its firing slightly before TDC. the carb is a Holley ..600 cfm i believe (1850-4)dual H exhaust 2 1/2 i believe with headers