I have an 84 GS. I rebuilt the carb and put in an RB Exhaust (RB header, pre-silencer and high flow muffler). The car seems to lack power and has a sort of "farty sound" to it. I also have glowing headers when the I have the choke on while the car is warming up. The glowing goes away once the choke pops in. I did some searching and saw someone mention that glowing headers could be the result of retarded timing. I advanced the timing considerably (don't have a light, so not sure how much) and the car seemed to run alot better. No more "farty noise", better power, no more glowing headers and easier to start when cold.
Is it wrong to advance the timing like this? Is there some other underlying problem that I am not aware of? Thanks in advance (no pun intended).
Chris

 

Timing light is best, sounds like you got lucky and hit it pretty close.

 

Nothing wrong with what you did judging from before and after behaviour. I'd get a light just be sure where you're at.

 

timing light is the best way to go ... but the poor mans way of doing it is just like you did ... first try adjusting the idle properly, then play around with the mixture screw so that you're not running too rich, then you can advance the timing of the engine by hearing how well the engine is responsing

 

Thanks guys! I will invest in a timing light!