Guys, for the life of me, timing my engine is some mysterious science that is only capable by magic. No matter how I use a light, it never reads how I want it to, and I just wind up tweaking it by ear until Im happy. With all the new mods I just put on the car, I want more precision. I know Im supposed to be at 12-14 degrees at roughly 1k idle, but the timing tab only goes to 10. In the past Ive just worked it until the timing mark was just outside the 10* line. IM currently sitting at about 14 degrees and Im almost pressed against my intake runner. I may have installed the dist a tooth off, if Im not mistaken all that does is effect how much range of adjustment I have? Anyways.....

I went and bought a Harbor Freight adjustable timing light. So at a base idle, I set the light at 12 degrees.......now where do I align the flashing strobe to? 12* or Zero....????

 

You align to zero if thats where you made your marks on the harmonic balancer that will give you 12* with the light set at 12

 

So 12-14 degrees will be correct for my setup at roughly 1k rpm? (My sig line shows all the mods) . Is that with the vac advance connected or disconnected?

 

Disconnect the vacuum advance and plug the line

 

Got it. Now the distributor position.....the vac advance is sitting at about the 5 o'clock position, almost up against the intake runner. Will this be an issue? I REALLY dont want to pull the distributor out again......(more nightmares of the 'lost nut' fiasco....)

 

if you had your mechanical timing set at TDC you would have room to advance or retard it with the distributor without a question. However I think that your a little off. see how close you can get it with the advance disconnected, and then if you have to pull the distributor its something that has to happen.

 

I had to pull mine up and drop it back in one time becuse i was a tooth or 2 off and couldnt get it out with the distributor. Good luck.

 

Are you still running the factory computerized distributor? Then before setting the timing, you need to unplug your computer wire. It's tan with a black stripe and comes out of the wiring harness on the passenger side, between the upper strut mount and heater box.
And yeah, if you need to advance your timing more and the vacuum advance can is limiting travel, you'll need to pop the distributor out and rotate it at least one tooth.

 

What the hell is up with my balancer!!!!???? With my adj light, set on 12 degrees, my factory timing notch on the balancer also reads 12 degrees.....but there is a white painted line on the the front of the balancer that lines up exactly at 0........Its almost as if the factory notch is off and the prior owner painted on the the correct line. The friggen balancer is the ONLY part on this car I havnt replaced. Shes running fine, just a bit of a stumble on accel.....

 

When the #1 cylinder is at top dead the balancer notch lines up with the 0 on timing tab?