[cobrajeff]

Most of my 289 HiPo's have run well with 10-14 degrees of initial advance. Whether it is 10, 12, or 14 depends upon your car, your engine, the curve in your distributor, and the gasoline you use. Typically, you want to run with as much advance as you can without getting pinging (detonation). I'd bump yours up to 12 and see how the engine likes it.

Original 289 HiPo's came with Autolite BF32 plugs - the standard 289's came with BF42 plugs. The BF32 plug is a colder plug than the BF42. For street use, with an automatic, I have typically used BF42's, even in my HiPo, to try to keep the plugs from fouling. You should probably be using something equivalent to the Autolite BF32. If you have something colder (akin to a BF22 racing plug) that could cause some fouling. .032-.035 gap seems to work well.

Good luck!

Jeff