I live in California and as we all know our emission laws are ridiculous, so i was wondering, does a timing bump affect smog and how can i do it?

 

To my knowledge all vehicles timing from the manufacturer are generally set in the middle in order for vehicles to run on all three grades of gasoline. If you have a chip installed or a custum PCM tune to the higher octanes, it advances timing to that grade of gas. This is why there are chips and custom tuning sellers out there. Chipping or custom tuning your vehicle to a specific grade of gas makes it run at its optimum, which should make it run cleaner and more efficient as long as u are running the tuned or chipped fuel grade. So with that said, u should be able to it, but I'm no expert and this just my opinion based on custom tuning to my Trans Am. Here's a sight I found that may provide u with more information in which to base your decision on. I haven't bought one myself yet but thought the how it works explanation was interesting by the fact that it reads what type of gas your running through the O2 sensor and adjust accordingly. Making you able to run any type of gas.

http://slrmotorsports.com/?gclid=***...FQY65QodwXkxsA

 

I'm skeptical about that chip....

To answer your question. A timing bump shouldn't affect smog, your truck should run more efficiently as it's burning the fuel and vapors in the cylinder more completely.

 

So I'm new to the forum, just picked up a 94 F150, and thought i would contribute.

I fought with the smog guys a few years ago with my rabbit. There are two parts to the smog test. One is the sniffer test, the other is visual. Part of the visual test is checking the timing when it's adjustable. Bumping the timing will most likely not hurt the sniff test but fail the visual. If you bump the make sure you change it back before you smog it.

My Rabbit failed smog because it only had a vacuum advance and not the retard on the distributor. If it's not carb approved/stock they will fail you, it's not worth fighting.

Good luck, mark your distributor!

 

Didn't mean to double post