Thread: Turbo 3800 timing

More info on the car would probably be helpful.

Since you put a Holley Dominator on the car, I'm guessing it is a first gen 3800...

Does the Holley system allow you to use all the factory sensors or how exactly is it setup?

The biggest things to watch for in knock retard and with that in mind the timing comes down to how you have it "modded" or setup, what fuel you are running and so on.


You didn't ask about what timing where (yes that's worded bad) so it's hard to say much there either.

Stock calibrations run anywhere from 40-20º at low load and cruising speeds and somewhere around 14-15º of at WOT with the stock pulley. Adding exhaust mods and so on can increase the WOT timing that you may be able to run depending on knock.

The Holley Dominator is an EFI kit for carbureted vehicles. It's similar to Megasquirt in a way.

The newest holley dominator systems are full EFI to my knowledge, they can run just about anything like the MS3 gold boxes.

https://www.holley.com/products/fuel.../parts/554-114

Pretty crazy price tag but does just about everything.

I'm happy to offer suggestions but you hadn't answered my first few questions yet.

It's good to know the motor setup but what fuel will you be running, what kind of boost numbers??


Are you still looking for overall timing numbers to run or just for WOT tuning??

I'd love to see pics of this setup, just to drool over... Lol

I'd send a PM to Turbocharged400sbc, he's got a 2000 turbo Regal running about 24 psi, he would most likely have the most accurate answer to your question.

I would think mid teens would be a good spot to start as you work out any kinks and get things running good. You wouldn't want to slap it with 20+ degrees of timing straight away and have some sort of failure.

Then watch knock from there, no knock = raise the timing a degree at a time. Then once you see knock, back it off 2 degrees and it should be plenty safe.

if you tossed in a SII 3800 into a 3.8 SFI/Turbo buick, the only difference is that you now have a much better oil pump and a rotating assembly with higher angularity. the better flow of the symmetrical port SII heads that were developed from the old buick Winston/indy heads are sorta stinted by the poor high rpm breathing of the rotating assembly.

really you should have no problem with using a std lc2 timing table and just add from there. the good news is that high piston acceleration rates from TDC tend to make the SII less knock prone.

also watch cyl 4 plug for ash buildup, you may want to put a baffle on the pan to blockoff the large opening in the plastic windage tray that slings too much oil onto the # 4 bore and the small oil ring cant handle it.

make sure you check that the knock sensing system is working properly. we are at 18* at 28 psi but run 20 with no problems on e85 at only 18psi