Hello Phil:

Thanks for the quick response. No, the engine was never modified. In fact, the previous owner named the car Virginia because no one had ever been in her.

Thanks for the thorough explanation. It matches exactly with Steve's assessment. I have a couple of questions regarding advance. Bear with me, I am a newbie to all of this:

Does timing advance mean the point in the four-stroke cycle where the actual spark occurs, thereby determining how much compression has occured? How does the setting determine economy and/or performance? What exactly is "pinging" and detonation? Is this similar to diesel engines, which do not have a spark plug and simply detonate at a certain amount of compression?

Cheers,

Jeff Pucillo