Idle quality is the biggest reason I run a crank trigger and also why I am dragging my feet on changing. Carb is a pro systems 1100 dominator on an dart oval port intake. Friend has a Dist I think I'll put in it to see if it would work. Thanks for all the replies.

This was more than 20 years ago so there might be better ways now.A friend had a big block crank trigger locked advance dist setup that would crank slow when hot.I put an MSD programmable computer on it and set the mechanical advance back up in the dist to match the computer,still using the crank trigger for the siggnal.Never had any trouble after that,even in the late rounds.I still see that car with that setup now.Bill.

The problem with the starting retard is nothing more than a problem with the little distributor cap . . When you retard the timing to start it fires back to the last (instead of the right one) wire . . Use an adaptor and a big Ford cap and rotor and you don't have the "cross fire" problem and your BBC will start just like a small block with 8° of lead . .

Anyway, that's what we do . .

I used the small cap for a year or so. Was scared to death to use it with nos so I finally swapped it out.
MSD calls it a Cap A Dapt. You will have to pull the dist. out and reset it on #1. I wish I had swapped mine a long time ago!!

Roadkill,When the spark retard delays the spark the rotor has passed the cyl it was to fire.The spark goes to the next cyl in the firing order that has just started to compress.full of air fuel mix and about 100 degrees BTDC causes the kick back.Big cap allways a good thing with high compression. Bill.

We found that it was firing back to the one it had just passed on full retard . . but a little study of what was available and why, problem solved . .

Another thing about the "Big Caps" vs. the little ones . . with the high energy coils we use today, a little cap can (and does) have a literal lightning show going on inside at high RPM . . Things are just too close . . and with crank triggers, where the rotor is can be a moot point . .

Roadkill,We arn't clicking on this.When the timing is retared electricly it makes the spark later,the rotor is still moving. So too much retard and it goes passed the cyl it should fire.If it fires back it,s firing the cyl it should.If it fires the next cyl in rotation,kick back. Due to less pressure it,s easy for the spark to go there.IF it would fire the cyl that was allready passed tdc there would be no kick back.Bill.