Hey guys, I advanced my timing up to 16.5*, it was at about 11* The engine is considerably louder, more knock at load, but idles silently. I went to start the truck after I finished, and it took a couple of seconds of cranking to get her fired up. OK, so some air got in when I took the injector line off. Then this moring I went out there, it was 26* out and I was looking forwardto the enhanced cold weather starting, and it did the same thing (cranked for 2 seconds), once it got going it was great, though. No stutter or anything after it fired up. I also put on a new overflow valve, from Performance Diesel and Turbo, could it be defective? Or maybe the timing is off. It is kinda embarassing having to crank the engine over in the parking lot like after school, I got a good ribbing from the Chevy guys. HELP!

 

Harder starting is one of the side effects of advancing the timing but 16.5 shouldn't make much difference. I'm thinking that something didn't go right in your timing method and the timing is really up over 20°. What reinforces this for me is the 11° you had stock. I've timed a lot of trucks and have never seen one below 12° even when the gear has slipped.
A problem some folks have had when using the dial lift method is that the base of the dial indicator gets moved in-between the time you set zero and set your lift.

 

That is one thing I was thinking, but when I start it after it sits for 2 hours, it fires right up. It almost seems like air, maybe from the overflow. But I am going to double check the timing.

 

Alright, I tore back into it tonight, and the timing was advanced too far. It turned out to be the TDC mark was just barely off. The pin wouldn't go in, and since I've heard it is inaccurate and the hole can get clogged with gunk, I double checked the valves. Turns out it was at about 19, now I got it back to 16.25.

One thing, I do get a little white smoke at 1500 RPMs and above after start up (50* outside), I am assuming this is normal, right? If someone could reassure me that this is fine, I will be happy to say I am done.

 

Does it smoke while driving or just while revving it up in neutral?
Most any diesel engine will smoke if you give it throttle without a load.

 

Just while in park. Took it for a test drive, and no problems. So the thin white smoke is normal...

 

I wouldn't think white smoke is normal.