I've learned not to trust everything I read online when it comes to dialing in these old engines, but the general consensus I've noticed is that just about everyone mentions that with the fuels of today you'll most likely need to bump up the initial timing just a touch on a stock original engine.
How do you guys feel about this? Is it hogwash? The original spec on my '66 Toro is 7 deg BTDC, but that would be with the fuels of the period however, and I did notice it runs quite a bit better with it bumped up to about 10 (stock, never rebuilt engine).
I did check the timing marks on the balancer to make sure it hadn't slipped on the pulley and it's definitely right on the money.