His information is inside the front cover of the Plymouth Bulletin under tech advisors.

John, do you have Roberts e mail, or have him contact me if that works better.

Dave

Maybe Robert McMulkin would know the timing specs. He is the 31PA tech advisor for our club.
Bob has been very helpful to me when I have emailed him about my 31PA.
--John

No, on the 31 model there are no timing marks. As a reference you remove the 1/8" plug in the cylinder head above #4 piston, then using a dial indicator when the piston is .046" before TDC on the exhaust stroke you turn the distributor to open the points for #1 cylinder (which will be on the compression stroke ).
Problem is when I follow these instructions the engine is obviously running with not enough advance. Turn the distributor to advance the timing and it runs much better.
As this old girl is 85 yrs old , who knows what has been done to the distributor over the years,...the centrifical advance springs may well have been changed at some point, It would be nice to verify that the distrubtor has the correct range of timing advance. I am sure Plymouth would have published this specification somewhere.

Dave

Is there a timing mark and indicator on the flywheel? On my '33 there is a little cover near the starter that can be opened to view the timing mark along with a pointer. I've been able to dynamically check the timing with an advance type timing light using a tach/dwell meter to give me engine RPM so I could check the actual timing against the specifications.

John
The trial and error method is what I have ended up adopting, although my concern is there is a risk of damage with running an engine with too much ignition advance.
I am hoping someone can provide the specification for total degrees of advance for the PA. On most engines it would be somewhere between 25 to 30 degrees.
I can establish a top dead centre mark on the crankshaft pulley along with another mark at the recommended total advance point, then it will be relatively simple to use a timing light to verify the timing.

Dave

Dave,
I also have a 31 PA sedan. I read the book on setting the timing, but found it confusing. My mechanic just timed it by trial & error by turning the distributor.
If you find another way, let us know.
--John

 I have inherited a 31 PA sedan, that has been in our family for 58 yrs. Latley I have given her a good tune up tune and going over.
The ignition timing I set as per the manual, using a dial gauge on #4 piston to set the ignition point for #1 cylinder.
The engine runs fine other than it is sluggish at high speed. As an experiment I advanced the timing a bit and road tested again, a huge difference.
My concern is, with these low compression engines they never seem to ping when the timing is too far advanced. In a modern
(higher compression) engine that pinging is a good indicator,....advance the ignition timing until it pings , then back off a bit. As long as it doesn't kick back on the starter you are OK.
So with out having engine ping to indicate too much advance I am afraid of damaging the engine.

Does any one know what the total advance on a PA engine should be, as in #of degrees ?

Dave