Manual transmission, 5 speed Mustang.  I have about 9.5:1 compression and a warmed over cam.  Don't know the specs, but I bought it from Mummert based on his suggestion. 

Auto or manual, do you have a standard cam, standard compression,  fuel type, altitude may have a bearing as well...  I would say you're going to be at 36 total, of course check under load to make sure its not pinging. You will have quite a bit of advance at idle but it will probably give you strong vacuum, make sure you're on ported vacuum advance. Also make sure you dont have too much vacuum advance , it will probably pull into the low 50's at cruise . I think you should be fine with all in at 2500 rpm. 



"Came too close to dying to stop living now!"

I have an old school timing light with the advance dial on the back.  I bought mine at Sears years ago.  With these timing lights, you can see what's happening with your advance. I set my timing light dial to 36 degrees .  I rev the engine to full advance and lock down the distributor when the timing mark is even with the TDC pointer.    If you then set the dial back to zero, you can see the initial advance and the advance curve.   My 292 has a stock 1957 Ford distributor with a Pertronix unit.  The vacumn advance line is connected to the side of my Holley 465.  I changed the distributor advance springs and my total advanace is all in at 3,500.  I run pump high test gas and my engine doesn't ping or run on.

They call themselves TOP STREET PERFORMANCE and they are a Chinese knock off of a MSD.  But they seem to work fine.  I know of another one installed on a y-block.  I bought it on Ebay.  By the way, they have a website and technical help phone line.  I called and asked if I could increase the total advance built in and they said no...  They agreed I could do it with a file but did not recommend that procedure.  

Which distributor is it?

16 initial may be ok - you can try it.  With too much initial, the engine will kick back - the starter will turn it over briefly and then it will just stop.  If that occurs, back off until it does crank properly.
Try the fastest springs to start.  You can probably mix sets of springs to get the advance to come in somewhere between the figures you have posted.  2500 could be too fast but 3800, and particularly 5500 seem too slow.


Lawrenceville, GA

OK, I know.  This has been discussed over and over and I have read other posts and opinions on other websites.

I have an electronic distributor with 19 total crankshaft advance degrees.  The only way to increase that is using a file on the stops.
So what TOTAL do I run?  

Lets say you recommend 35 degrees, that means I need 16 degrees initial..  kinda steep??

QUESTION 2:  I have 3 sets of springs to choose from:  1)  All advance by 2500 rpm  2)  All by 3800 RPM 3) All by 5500 RPM

OK guys...Recommendations please!!