I hear spark knock, now what?

[SV1000]

I am looking for basic advice; I have an AMC 258 in a CJ, 1227747, ASDU, with a Comp Cam X4250H, stock 2bb intake, stock cast iron manifold and free flowing exhaust, the engine is rebuilt, broken-in and running good. It has a manual trans, 32" tires and 3.54 gears.

I am hearing some pinging, initially base timing was set at 0 and bumped up to 15 BTDC at the request of the tuner. After hearing the pinging it was suggested I simply back off the base timing like any other vehicle; if I remember correctly, I am around 5 BTDC. The tuner reviewed the datalogs and said nothing needs to change, just retard the timing.

I am not setup for tuning yet although I plan to order a chip adapter and Burn2 fairly soon.

My question:

Is lowering base timing the correct method to address the pinging or should this be addressed within the ecm?

[RobertISaar]

i would set base timing based off of starting ease, then adjust everything else within the calibration.

[1BadAction]

Where is your air cleaner picking up air from? Look at the stock TBI style air cleaners for inspiration, when the duct from the cleaner to the fresh air source beside the grill pops off mine starts to ping under acceleration immediately.

[SV1000]

I have a snail type tb cap with a short tube running to the passenger side of the valve cover and a k n cone filter so nothing has changed.