The B-1 can is about all that is left unless you can locate some of the lighter "high performance" cans that are NLA on Ebay.
I'm not overly fond of the "adjustable" VA units and don't use them.
Setting up a distributor is pretty easy, I've done thousands of them over the years and have always offered this service, but I only do original units, nothing aftermarket.
Lot's of folks who send carbs here also send their distributors to be set-up for what they are doing. I do not like or use aftermarket spring/weight kits and stick with OEM parts. I set-up custom curves by using a MIG welder to reduce the travel of the advance pin, then open it up if/as needed so it adds the timing we are looking for.
I verify this with a degree wheel, then select the springs to get the advance in when we want it.
Well thought out engine builds will not like, want or need a lot of advance or having it "all-in" early. These super light spring kits to get it all in around 1500-2000rpm's do not work as some of it will be in at idle speed making tuning difficult if not near impossible.
For most well thought out engine combo's I shoot for 10-12 degrees initial timing, 10-11 from the mechanical advance (20-22 at the crank), and 10-15 degrees from the VA.
Engine with tight quench, decent compression and well chosen cam will usually make best peak power around 30-34 degrees total timing. This assumes optimum compression for pump gas and good combustion chambers. Some of the "old" combustion chamber designs developed for emissions will not fair well with those numbers and need considerably more timing for best efficiency. Problem is that some of those designs have WAY too much squish area and tend to ping on pump gas even when you are doing everything right.
I've ran into several engines that were nearly impossible to tune with pump fuel even though the static compression ratios were pretty "low" and cam choice looked good for them.
Couple of years ago I opened up my Saturday mornings to custom tuning troubled engine combo's and have had vehicles brought here, some from great distances. Of course this was after the owner exhausted all locally available resources to get them working well, including all his beer drinking buddy's and any local shops or "guru's" who do that sort of thing.
The common denominator with nearly every single one of those troubled engines was using some cheap-ars Mr Gasket or similar weight/spring kit in the distributor. Adding Petronix was another big problem I found with them (insufficient dwell across the RPM range).
The spring/weight kits in every single case were allowing some timing in below 1000rpms making idle tuning a lesson in humility. Some of them were even adding timing when cranking making restarts difficult! A good advance curve can NOT start below the idle speed or timing will fall-out when the trans is placed in gear or engine tries to "settle down" at idle speed.........Cliff
