John, I just this morning got a chance to finish the thread which rolled off the page yesterday. I think you were replying more or less to me when you wrote the following:Quote: "I got to thinkin I agree with your notion in a way, its just that when you say 35 RETARD I think you meant she retards 35 BEHIND the run time advance NOT that she ever fires 35 AFTER TDC sooooo ooo lateeeee eeee, which is far to slow to ever start fer sure, although she could run poorly I reckon??" Yes, that is what I meant, but not what I said. Thirty five degrees after TDC is very, very retarded indeed! What concerns me, though, is that I am fairly certain that SOMETHING must be timed so that at hand cranking speeds, the spark must occur well past top dead center for safety reasons. Ah, but what is "well past?" I don"t have a clue; but maybe say six or seven degrees? Remember, with a centrifugal or other mechanical advance, the timing would only be this retarded for the FIRST cylinder to fire, and would come quickly up to where it needed to be, at or before top dead center (but not by much, since we are usually starting at fast idle-type speeds). But pity the poor lone Model T driver in cold weather, who must sprint back to the driver"s side of the car and yank down on the spark before she dies...
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