Ineed someone to tell me which pointer on the timong plate of my 390 is 8 degrees i cant understand them 1963 390 thunderbird i.e. which point is 8 degrees?

just loosen the distributor and turn it until the engine seems to idle and rev good- then check where it is at on the timing marks- it should be in the range of the marks- if it won't idle good, there are other problems- you can always buy a shop manual- that is a classic, why not buy the literature?

Thanks

I have a 65, 390 ci and I use a vacuum gauge to set the idle. I do basically what jamnblues does except I just turn the distributor very slowly to find the best idle with the highest vacuum reading.