Steve,
The shop manual applies to a vacuum advance distributor, plus it is set
rather conservatively. For most 260's/289's with a mechanical advance; i.e.,
dual-point etc, the initial advance should be 16 degrees with a full 36
degrees of advance in by 2,500 rpm. You will probably need to replace the
centrifugal counterweight springs with softer ones to get the advance to
come in that quickly. The Ford dual-point allows 20 degrees of mechanical
advance. Other distributors allow you to adjust the amount of advance, but
20-25 degrees is probably best. I would focus primarily on the maximum
advance and the rpm it comes in at. Unless you change the advance range of
the distributor, that will also determine your initial advance, so don't
worry about whether you are idling at 500 or 800 rpm. Also, the drain on the
battery is not great, so I wouldn't worry about that either. On the other
hand, don't let the loose wires short to ground or get caught in the fan.
Bob Palmer
rpalmer@ucsd.edu
rpalmerbob@adelphia.net
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