I too have the Langdon HEI kit in my '50 3100 on a '60 235 car engine. I rebuilt the engine and added a 3/4 race cam from Patricks to the dismay of Mr. Langdon. I've run the engine three times in the past couple of months and have tried to set the timing by ear per Mr. Patrick's advice (difficult having never heard one of these engines run before) and with a timing light. I think I got my engine at a fast idle to about 5-7 degree before top dead center before it started to stall out. I backed it up slightly and it runs well.
I don't know how anyone can get it over to 18 DBTDC. Aren't you supposed to set the timing at a specific RPM, like 2,000 RPM? That's how we used to do it with the more modern cars like the '79 MGB or the '78 Land Cruiser.
