My truck is a 96 12v 5spd with 4" strait, ground plate slid forward and afc tweaked and I'm thinking about Pump timing. How difficult is it could I do it at home in the driveway? I have a guy who will do it for 200 bucks, don't kno if that's reasonable, he says go 19* for more power and economy or go 24* for more power, what's my best bet?

 

If you dont have head studs I believe 16.5* is the most thats recommended. Ive seen plenty of ppl run 19* on stock gaskets and studs and be fine though. If you do 24* on stock gasket and studs the trucks is gonna haul a$$ for about a week til you blow the heck out of your head gasket

 

IMO 200 is way high. Timing takes less than 1.5 hours to do if you take your time

 

How much power can be gained from bumping the pump timing?

 

Timing tools are only 190 on fleabay, then you can reset it later as you up-grade other parts. IMO 16-17 is what you should be looking towards. Its not hard to do, just take your time and put a new lock washer on the pump.