Advanced Timing On Dauntless V6

I checked the timing on my ‘71 CJ5 with the Dauntless V6 because it had become very sluggish and bogged down on hills. I found it was barely above 0*. As I advanced the timing to 5* it improved but was still not running smooth. I ended up finding the sweet spot at around 15*. I drove it several miles up to 65 mph testing it on hills and highway. The performance improved dramatically with no change in engine temperature or other functions. I live at 7500 ft. elevation and typically go up from there.
Will this harm the engine in any way if I leave the timing advanced this much? I did block the vacuum setting the timing. Dwell is at 30. Idle around 900 rpm. Jets might need to be reduced as it still seems a bit rich. PO was near sea level and said stock carb had been rebuilt.
Thoughts and comments welcomed.
Thanks

 

No, it won't hurt anything, unless it starts pinging. 15° BTDC is a little high, but if you're not getting detonation, you're fine. And even at that, if you're made out of money, just run Super/Premium unleaded, and that would likely fix the issue as well.

 

Just FYI when I go to Colorado I put in size 47 jets. That is in the Rochester 2g. They are size 51 normally.

 

I'm at 6000 ft and mine is about 15 degrees. Like you, I go up in elevation from here.

 

Something to keep in mind is the timing spec is what the factory believed would work best for most folks with the fuel available at the time. High elevation, heavy loads, engine modifications, today's fuel can make the factory spec irrelevant. Optimum timing for your situation can be determined with a vacuum gauge. After warming up the engine, disconnect and plug the vacuum advance line at the carb. Attach the vacuum gauge to a manifold vacuum source, not the vacuum advance port. With the engine running at idle rotate the distributor to find highest vacuum. Lock the distributor, remove the gauge, reattach the vacuum advance line. Done. Might have to back the timing off a little if it pings under heavy load. I don't even have a timing light and I can't remember the last time I used one.

 

A timing light is a valuable tool to set initial timing then follow your procedure. Especially after an engine rebuild or distributor/points replacement. After a distributor replacement or removal operation as well. If the timing light has the advance feature it can be useful to check the ignition timing after one gets it set where one wants it to know where to reset it down the road. It can also be helpful for timing component diagnosis.

 

Thank you all for your valuable input and response. I’m going to reduce the jet size next. Any suggestions where to source the jets for the Rochester 2G?

 

try here
https://www.carburetor-parts.com/120-10.html