Link ecu base time/ ignition delay

[Stranger24]

I spent sometime on my e36 to ensure base timing is in sync before i map it and need some help understanding the link ecu and concept of ignition delay

i put a white pen marker  on my front crank pully which has designaed cut showing the 0 degree timing and also on the block.

 

with timing light it is offset of -323 and it is spot on all the way to 5000rpm. I tried -323 or -324 and do see it move back and forth so confident -323 is right 

 

now on ignition delay, I read the help multiple times and don’t understand it.

 

it is set to 115 ms on e36 default map and whether i set it to 0 or 150 no change to timing mark all the way to 5k

i settled with 20ms just i guess it wasn’t 0. Can anyone give me layman term of what I need to do and whether 20 is acceptable? No time drift at all with 0 or 20 or 150 i tried so don’t get the concept

[Adamw]

You should see some drift with RPM when the delay setting is not correct, it is only small, usually <2° and not very obvious with some timing lights that tend to bounce around a little.

If you dont see any timing drift when the timing is locked and the engine RPM is varied from say 1000 to 6000RPM, then it must be either close enough to correct setting, or the timing light/timing mark is not good enough to show it clearly.  

 

[Stranger24]

Thanks Adam

 

my timing light is draper/ budget and I could see the timing mark move when I changed the offset by 1 number clearly but nothing at all with ignition delay

 

I guess if set wrong , does it mean your table might be out a little?

 

I know dwell time and trying to really understand where does ignition delay come in. Is that addition to dwell time?

i will test it again and i reved all the way with a helper and not a single move

 

if it is set too high say 150 what is downside or if set too low then what is the downside?

[koracing]

My 2 cents:  If it doesn't have an apparent difference while testing I wouldn't get too worried about it.  If the default setting is working, I would go with that.  Ultimately when mapping or tuning, you're going to set the ecu to what the engine responds to for values in the timing table, and that's what matters most.

Having perfect timing offset means that the timing values in your timing table are accurate all the way to redline versus the real world mechanical crank position.  Having it incorrect may mean there is some difference between what the ecu is commanding or "thinks" the timing is versus the actual real world.  What is the practical difference in this potential couple degress of difference?  In my opinion, not much since as stated previously you're going to tune to what the enigne wants in either case.

This also only can be checked/set when the ecu has a fixed timing value.  You'll need to have the ecu set so that the trigger calibration window is open while checking this to fix/hold ecu timing.