Re: Ping In 359 Engine

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2014/4/23 17:49:30

Lots of experience with this, a 54 Patrician was my daily driver back in the 70s and 80s. At (or beyond) what many considered to be the max compression ratio for a flathead engine of that design, your problem isn't at all unexpected or uncommon and at that borderline CR the aluminum head was a necessity. Do you still have the stock 359 head? If you have a 327 head it's going to very hard to eliminate the spark knock and still retain the full potential of the engine.

You don't want to advance the timing as your friend suggested, you want to retard it! And it is quite possible to use a timing light for the front vibration damper, even though it's close quarters, I've done it; but worst come to worst, just remove the power steering belt and move the pump out of the way. Don't rely on the marks on the distributor mounting plate, the distributor can be easily moved one way or the other within that plate so unless you first time the engine to 6 deg BTDC, and then move the plate to that index mark, those marks are entirely arbitrary.

IMO best thing to do is to use your timing light and set to 4 deg. BTDC and go for a test drive. If you've got a 327 head on the engine, start looking for a 356 head.