I wish I had my old '47 again, it was great fun! Try to clean out the vacuum advance tubing by blowing air through it or running a thin wire through it and/or cleaning it in an untrasonic bath with some dish detergent. My Ford manual only goes to 1940 but the 59A settings should be OK for the 59-AB as well. My book says 4 degrees initial advance with 16 degrees additional vacuum advance. If you have rebuilt the carb that should be OK, but who knows whether the jets are right and those gosh darn spring loaded idle screws can get out of range easily when you mess with them. Try to keep the two barrels equal. The tech sheet for the 59A says the vacuum advance should kick in at 400 rpm and be all (16 degrees) in by 3000 rpm.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder