[Vwdiesel] Cetane and mileage

[Sandy Cameron]

At 12:00 AM 3/9/04 EST, you wrote:

>pump timing (a little beyond specs) might be called for. The question is-how 
>much can you bump up the timing without risking damage and should it even be 
>considered?? You could compare it to timing your gas engine by advancing until 
>you hear the pinging and then backing off a tad. I know from experience my gas 
>engines run stronger and get better mileage when I run the timing more 
>advanced. 

My first car, a 1929 4 cylinder flathead continental engine (Durant) had a
manual spark control on the steering wheel. It was there for 2 reasons.

1- (most important) was when cranking by hand, to avoid a broken wrist or
arm, retard spark so it didn't kick back.

2- Allowed for fine tuning ignition timing on the fly for best performance /
economy.
    Might still be a good idea for those who know how it works. A "wet
computer" instead of a silicone one.

Sandy