Yes, about 34 degrees above 2200 rpm, with vacuum hose disconnected. I did check the vacuum advance with a My-T-Vac, it is not leaking and does advance the timing, but I did not measure how much. I did drive it with vacuum line removed and port on carb blocked, it made no difference. It will ping hot or cold, i.e. just minutes after starting it up. And from the amount of noise it makes, I'm thinking it's pinging on all 8. I mean, it is really loud if I put my foot into the throttle much. I had already looked at the advance mechanism. It was not gunked up, just a wee bit rusty and weights and cam moved freely. I cleaned them up and put some lube on them. The springs look fine, both feel the same rate.
At this point the only thing that I've not changed is the distributor. I bought one of those small cap HEI knock offs, and just ordered an external coil. Will give that a try and see, but after that, there is not much left to replace except the whole engine!
-John
