Timing Advance

[Iggy]

I'm running a pro-billet dist. on a 455 olds jet boat...I'm using the blue bushiing and the 2 light silver springs...According to the booklet, it should give me approx. 25 cent. advance. If I run 8 deg. off the crank, I should have 33 deg. total advance....Under this scenario, some light "pops" come from the carb... Then , if I bump the timing up to say 12-14 off the crank, it runs better (no "poping")...Can I trust the mechanical portion or should I just keep advancing until it pings?...I'm worried about goint too far and burning pistons.....In theory, its about 39 deg. and does run better when I give it more timing. I've been told to run it between 30 and 34, but it just doesn't run well (no power). I don't have a timing light thats adjustable (hard to check it at full throttle).
Any ideas?

[msdtech1]

First, make sure that your timing mark on your harmonic balancer is truely at zero when the number 1 piston is at top-dead-center on the compression stroke. Next, purchase a degreed timing tape for your existing harmonic balancer so that you can verify that your timing is truely doing what you expect it to be doing. Are you running a CD ignition amplifier with the distributor or is it a Ready-To-Run model? If you are running a CD, make sure that the magnetic pickup wires are not run parallel to the spark plug wires and try to keep them as far away for the spark plug wires as possible.

MSD Tech1