Hmmmm IMHO that's a fairly mild cam so maybe what you have is close to being it although it should still go to more than 4500 and be making hp.

What effect would it have if the timing is 4 - 8 degrees out?

If you're talking about advance then fall flat on its face at 4500 .

But again advance would be part of the tuning process. The 5.0's like a bit of advance when modified

Did they dial the cam in?

That's what I am wondering. I sent Trick Flow tech dept an email lastnight explaining how it runs and fired off the dyno charts as well. They asked the same question. They reckon it looks like it's retarded! lol... retarded alright!

What does it take to check it? I found a piece of paper in amongst all my s**t for the timing set. The crankshaft sprocket has 3 timing settings. One is original, one is 4 deg retard and the other is 4 deg advance. I was thinking yesterday after I found it that maybe the wrong setting was used. Then this morning after geting the reply from Trick Flow and now you asking the same question BOTTLEDUP, I'm thinking there's a very good chance where this problem may lie.

If it runs out of legs at 4500,i would have thought it was too far advanced,power comes on early and runs out early.The opposite for retarded.My timing set allows for eight degrees advance and 8 retard in 2 degree incriments

I see, but the power doesn't seem to come on til late. On the dyno it seems to drop off early, but it doesn't feel it so much on the road.

Ok, how much after 2000 rpm does it get going on the road?Also how hard does it rev to on the road?

it's gutless as until about 3500 then after that she goes until about 5500 when I either change or back off. I took it to around 6000 a couple of times and it still feels like it pulls a bit, but will like to keep it below redline.

Just in case, have you seen the dyno sheets on the previous page? Where the torque kicks in is definately where I feel it on the road

^^No chance he gave it a run-in tune is there?

Power shouldnt come in any later than 2500 if the cam specs quote the minimum rpm at 2000,something is amiss there scaffy,maybe have a yarn to bpt and get more info about cam timing like bottledup suggested earlier.You wouldnt need a run in tune on a motor thats done 100000+ km coz theres nothing to run in

Nah mate, nothing of the like.

I went up there just before lunch and they were shut. I'm going to fire another email to Trick Flow and see what their recommendations are as far as dialing in the cam and setting the timing.

oxrunner - did you notice a BIG improvement over the GT40X from the AFR's

Stages of some mods were :

GT40X's with stock cam, custom upper, stock lower manifold

GT40X's with E303 cam, custom upper, GT40 lower manifold

AFR185's with XE274HR cam, custom upper, GT40 lower manifold

AFR185's with XE274HR cam, 8 stack upper/lower manifold.

So the initial swap to AFR's was not a direct comparison to the GT40X's as I used a 274 cam at the same time, but the manifold system was the same. But the difference was chalk and cheese .

With the new custom 8 stack manifold it was chalk and cheese again

But at the moment I'm building a new short engine and using a US custom cam.

I spoke to the one of the guys at Trick Flow this morning (forgive me if I have used the wrong terminology anywhere). He told me that the total timing at WOT should be between 34 - 36 degrees. I know mine is set to 30. I'm interested to know where anyone else's timing is at WOT as I've been told that any more than that can cause detonation. I mentioned to the guy at Trick Flow that I was told this and he said that the fact the heads are alloy and the design of the ports, detonation won't be a problem if set at 36. When I told one of the guys this, he laughed at me. He seems to be so sure of detonation that I'll need to sign a waiver to get it done.

There's definately something amiss with the way it's running and everyone seems to think it's timing. Obviously if I feel my car's not running right, I'm going to try and learn as much about it and try and find where the problem may lie. Sometimes I get the feeling that when I say something or ask a question, certain people take offence or think I'm second guessing what they are saying after someone else tells me something completely different.

I'm having a few other issues with the way it's driving now. Like when I come to a stop at the lights, it either stalls or drops to 500rpm then surges up to 1500rpm and keeps doing it til I hold it at about 1500 for a few seconds then it settles. It sounds like I'm revving it like you hear them do in the movies before a race.

Also when I'm accelerating and get over 4000rpm, it seems to surge. I'm sure there's a better way to explain it, but I can't think of anything better right now!

That's all for now, I think.

I think you should drop the cats and give it a run out the headers, as per your other thread.
Its easy, costs nothing, and its possible that it could be a major contributing factor to your problem.

Your timing is only at 30 !!! Jeez no wonder

As I mentioned above modded windsors like some advance. I think you will be amazed at the difference it will make

Bump it up to 36 and check for "pinging" but it should be fine.

What is your calculated compression ratio.

I'm running 43 !!!! total advance because at the moment its compression is only 8.3:1. My new engine will be 10:5 so it will then run less.