I greatly appreciate the help. I am trying to keep the question as
simple as possible to not distract from the core question I have in
mind. I can see where the confusion come from. Let me clarify as best I
can. To be honest, I know enough to get myself in trouble, but the
bigger issue is that no one seems to know the answer to my question
locally.

I participate in newsgroups myself, and genuinely respect the knowledge
that they generally represent. That is why I am here. My understanding
for some unknown reason is that timing can be altered on an engine two
ways. One by changing the electronic timing at the distributor (that's
how it used to be), and Two by mechanically changing the timing at the
timing chain on the camshaft. Again, my understanding is that the
mechanical approach is more reliable and considered "true" timing
advance. Hopefully my mind isn't melting over the years, but that is how
I recall it.

The motor I am referring to was rebuilt. The man rebuilding it, knew
that I wanted as much low torque as possible. We chose to use an
Edelbrock Performer timing chain set-up. The gear set had the option to
set a 4 degree advance to increase torque. No one I could find at the
thought that would present any problems.

My concern was that engines have changed over the years, and I am
unclear on what readings the computer takes off the engine, and how it
uses those readings. If my engine's computer "thinks" it is using a
standard timing position of 0 degrees, have I created a problem by using
a mechanical timing advance?

The engine is slow at the line, runs rich, some light backfiring in the
engine compartment when starting or warming up. Kind of hard to keep
running that first minute or so until it stabilizes. Once the RPM's are
up, the engine seems to have nice pick-up and all is satisfactory.

I replaced the Mass Air Intake, but the problem still exists. I am
haunted by that decision on the timing chain advance. Is the timing
creating the problem of rich, no power,  or should I go back to tracking
down a false sensor or something?

The engine is from a 92 mustang convertible GT. The computer
unfortunately is not. It is a Mass Air set-up that uses a jumper of some
sort to attach to an old school wiring harness. I would have to look up
details on that, but I want to first resolve whether I can dismiss the
timing as a non issue and move on to other troubleshooting.

The reason for the wiring jumper is because the engine had no wiring
with it when purchased. The people who did the wiring for me used the
earlier engine wiring with the later model Mass Air sensors. That
apparently requires some type of jumper. I will track down more details
as needed, but if timing advance is the problem, then I need to fix that.

Thank you in advance, and I am sorry for so much info here. Again I
really appreciate your assistance here.

Lawson

I think I will aim the mechanic at this. I am afraid it may be above my
head at this point. Thank you for the link though.