Hey all, I have quite a big cam in my engine, 1340, Dellorto, 286i. The cam was put in when I was doing Hillclimb sprints etc but now I'm doing more runs and cruising. I intend to swap the cam out next time the engine needs attention but for the moment I'm just trying to make it more happy at lower revs.
Question is, if I retard the timing a couple of degrees, will this give me a bit more torque at lower rpm?

Advancing cam timing will improve your bottom end, retarding the cam will do the opposite.

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1969 Cooper S

What he said above. You could also increase rocker clearance a bit, to reduce duration .
I run .022 intake, .024 exhaust on my 282 cam with 1.5 rockers. No they are not noisy.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

So if I throw in some octane boost and advance a bit and increase Rocker clearance on inlet and exhaust a couple of thou?

Don't bother with octane booster don't advance ignition timing. Cam timing and ignition timing are two separate things. Shim as doc suggests.

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1969 Cooper S

Oops I mean clearance as doc suggests

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1969 Cooper S

Richard. A stealth black box may help with adjusting timing and improving low torque. You can adjust more accuratley and monitor results. DrMini has some experience with this. I am looking at doing this.

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Now with 2 extra ports!

Just before you do anything, make sure you have a clear idea of cam timing vs ignition timing as suggested (eg by ford boat). Still sounds like they're being talked about interchangeably.

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