Timing Light

[nivvy]

I got my 1st timing light and hooked it up and checked timing....Did something wrong because I adjusted the advance knob until it went to TDC on the balancer and the knob said 16 which cant be right... should be about 36 right ...

I ran a wire from the positive on the battery in the trunk to the positive on the timing light and grounded the black clamp to the body and put the clamp on the #1 wire.... what did I do wrong it is a advance timing light ... and MSD 6AL ignition and MSD Pro Billet Distributor ..

thx

[GoodysGotaCuda]

that means you have 16* advance timing, if you are checking at IDLE. if you raise it to where your mech advance winds up, it should read about 36*

[Oldschool]

   At idle the number will be the lower of the two numbers.  12-16 degrees @ idle and 32-38 degrees at full advance.  It all depends on where you set it and what the engine likes....       

[67Vette427]

Goody is right. It sounds like you're 16 degrees advanced at idle. The nice thing about the adjustable lights is you can use it to see what your timing is rather than the marks on the timing tabs. You can also check your total advance, vacuum advance and centrifical advance it you're using all of them.

[nivvy]

yes it was at idle...how do you check full advance...rev it up to a certain RPM ...

[Chryco Psycho]

Rev it to 3000 & set timing at 36* + - 2*

[67Vette427]

Like Chryco said rev it to 3k and hold the throttle steady, set your light knob to 36 degrees and line up the timing mark on the balancer to the 0 or TDC mark. Sometimes 2500 rpm is enough. You'll either need a portable tach or somebody inside the car watching the tach and working the throttle.  I usually run my cars around 8 degrees advanced at idle. It keeps them from running warm in traffic. You might need more with your engine design.

[matt63]

There is a good chance that your distributor will not be set-up to give you the exactly the right advance for a good idle and for the desired full advance.  I expect the MSDs are adjustable.  I think they use offset bushings??

[Jacksboys]

You might need more with your engine design.

Like 67Vette427 said, it really depends on your engine design and setup, for example, my MP distributor only changes about 10 degrees from initial to total advance.  So I run 20 degrees intial and have about 30+ total.  I tried running a vacuum advance with this and it started to ping, so I just disconnected the vacuum line.

Good luck on getting the timing set.