You never "time them a bit" BEFORE TDC or it will run too hot because of the
detonation.  I actually run Ole Putt at 3 degrees AFTER TDC because of the
age, wear and tear on the distributor (that happens to have over 170K on
it) and I have plenty of power with either the stock ECU or the
European 2.1Digijet ECU I got from Boston Bob.

My 84 GL is spot-on at 5 degrees AFTER TDC with it's stock 1.9 and she's a
real "road-burner".  A friend with a 87 Vanagon couldn't keep up with me on
the on-ramps onto the freeway :-)
--
Jim Thompson
84 GL 1.9 "Gloria"
84 Westfalia 2.1 "Ole Putt"
73 K Ghia Coupe "Denise"
72 411 Station Wagon "Pug"
oldvolkshome@gmail.com
http://www.oldvolkshome.com
***********************************
On 5/23/07, Geza Polony <gezapolony@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
> Yes but...doesn't everybody time them a bit before TDC anyway? I thought
> the
> ATDC specs were mostly for early EPA requirements. When I had mine at 5*
> atdc it didn't have any power.