Technical Blueprint 383 with locked out timing

I have ran locked out timing in the past but with much more cam on a pump gas 10.7:1 548" BBC, RAN AWESOME! street and strip

Now I have a milder cammed blueprint 383 (tunnel rammed) with 10:1 compression

Anybody running locked out timing with this engine?

It should really help the tunnel ram on the street, just concerned with the smaller cam not bleeding as much cylinder pressure as my old BBC.

 

That's a big can of worms.
It's not uncommon. Heads, cam, so many things that go into that.
Have run Big Olds engines with good heads, cam and compression locked out without any issues in the past.

 

Ran my sprint cars with the advance locked at about 45 degrees. They were not hard starting as a push truck has more power than a conventional starter.

 

Timing is used to refine the point when the spark is igniting the A/F mixture in relation to piston position and RPM. If you are only operating the engine at a higher RPM than a typical timing curve (say 2000 RPM and up), it should be fine. If you expect good power above that (full timing) AND good street manners at 1200-2000 RPM (over advanced timing), you are going to have issues. There is a reason even a Model A had timing advance!

This is just like "can I run mechanical injection on the street" or any other racing application being applied to a street situation. Yes, but it is not optimum, and the question is why? For style points, for simplicity when it often requires driving or mechanical complications, or is it just what is on hand?

Starting can be avoided by either spin, then coil power/mag or having a retard unit wired in.

 

All I am going to say is that with highly modified engines there is "street driven" and then there is actually driving it on the streets and roads as Squirrel has done with his Plan II Nova. I've known guys who have full tilt race engines in cars that they call street driven because once a week they fire it up and roll it out of the garage and rump rump to the cruise night hangout 16 blocks from the house and then a couple of hours later rump rump back with a little burn out leaving the lot. Those guys usually tell you that they drive it on the street all the time but trailer it to the track if they race it at all. One of my years back friends from Oregon ran a 29 A sedan with a blown small block that was seriously quick but still towed a small camp trailer to rod trots all over the west coast.

 

I doubt anyone in this forum has, but you'll get the "expert" answers from people that think 3x2 intakes and dual exhaust is full out dragstrip stuff lol
My old 10.5 tunnel ram sbc had a non locked out MSD setup with 13 initial and 23 mechanical, stock starter and I never had any issues. That includes hot starts at the track and one particular day at 5 degrees for a February car show, but many mornings in the 40's and a few high 30's.
Just my own experience, not second hand stories of friend of a friend accounts.

 

My race SBC runs 24 deg at idle, 36 all in. Mech advance only. Stars fine, will actually idle all day long if you want watering eyes and the Ms complaining you smell of fuel!

It is however a full on short oval race cam. I don’t see any reason to run a locked out dissy on anything. In hindsight with mine I’d have vac advance as well to give me the extra timing it wants at idle.

 

You'll probably be better off with a small amount of mechanical advance, like 12-14 degree's, and make up the rest with initial, all in by 2,000 rpm or so... JMO

 

I have run my 99% street 383 with a magneto with no mechanical or vacuum advance at 34 degrees total. I have also run the same 383 with HEI distributor. This 383 is 11.03:1 CR. About 525-550 HP. I set the HEI up at 16 initial + 18 mechanical = 34 degrees total + 14 vacuum. All in at 2500. The HEI with the curve set up properly is better when running on the street. Better low-end response and it runs a little cooler is slow traffic.
I also have a 350, 10.3:1 CR. about 350 horsepower with a points distributor set up with the exact same 16 +18= 34 +14vac. I have had a lot of non-stock SBCs and they all have responded well to this set-up. I know there may be a little horsepower at 36 or more degrees, but I like to leave a little room for a bad load of gas. Even my race motors were always set at 34 degrees. Locked out. That's because I only cared about the 4000-7500 rpm range.