Thanks for your response Stuart. You'll have to forgive me, as I think I posted before thinking, and this is the first time I've fiddled with a distributor.
What I really want to know is how to set the "octance selector". When I said our distributor was 8 degrees retarded, I really meant to say that the "octane selector" was 8 marks off center (towards the "R"). I assumed "R" meant retarded, but now it seems clear that "R" means "rich". Is that correct? What does the "A" then mean ("leAn" ?).
I also didn't know you need to diconnect the vaccuum advance when setting the timing. To my knowledge the shop manual doesn't say that. It seems like it wouldn't advance much at idle, but maybe it makes a difference?
Thanks for helping out a new guy. The only way to stop being green is to get dirty!
