Tuning school of thought? Options

[awd4kicks]

I always set my timing at about 8 degrees BTDC. I concluded that this was a happy medium between the stock 5 and the burning-valves 10 I had used before. Then again, you know I always tuned at the opposite end of safe in the past.

My new set-up will probably still only run a 5-6 degree base timing. Timing does equal power and quicker throttle response but I've not heard of anyone getting big numbers with huge timing. There are obvious limits to timing since you are setting the point at which spark is fired and the more advanced it is set the earlier it will fire before the piston reaches TDC. I would think at some point it would get counter productive or useless to fire the spark without the gas being compressed and the piston trying to move up the cylinder.

I'd be interested to hear if this is possible though.