A week ago I went to time my old T coupe. 350sbc. My 40 (at least) year old Actron timing light had given up the ghost. Damn it! OK, so I get on the internet to find a new one. There must be a company for every sbc ever built making those things. I end up deciding to get another Actron 'cause the old one lasted 40+ years. They still have a plain model like my old one. It just lights up when there's spark, no advance stuff. Well for about $10 more the digital model has the advance feature plus a tach. So I decided to bring my old ass into the 21st century and give it a try. Might be handy. UPS delivered it yesterday. The light doesn't seem to be as bright as the old one. OK, so turn the shop lights off. Then after about 30 minutes of engine idling with the occasional rev, I think I may have it figured out. But the engine was getting too warm to continue. So here I sit typing this while the fan cools it down. I have always marked my harmonic balancers by measuring the circumference with a stagger tape. For my SBC I divide the circumference by ten.... 36 degrees... and lay it out on the balancer. You can make any degree mark you want with this method. Or put a degree tape on it. Or lately all the balancers I have bought were already well marked. All this to say that the fancy dialback timing lights are not really needed, and I wish I had just bought the plain old "old school" timing light. I would have been done an hour ago. I know I'm a crusty 70 year old curmudgeon that just hates change. Especially all this new fangled digital electric crap that just won't last like our old junk. I'll bet this new light won't last 40 years. OK. Rant over. How many of you guys are like me?
Count me in. I use the timing light to do initial setting and to verify and track road tune adjustments. All my timing lights are yard sale finds, I'd take an old solid tested unit over the new lightweight junk they sell at the parts store any day.
I bought one of them that has it's own batteries in it. I loved it. It lasted damn near two weeks and I threw it away.
My old Sears gave up the ghost so I bought a dial style from HF. My son has used his dial for years and I got friendly with it, it’s a Proto. I have found I like the dial as the “0” or tdc is always a bigger line for me to see. If I want a total of 32* I set the dial there and rev the engine and can see the “O” line very plain. I’ve marked it with an old bottle of white out. I’ll move up a century every now and then...
Hey! Tell me this. Can't I just set the advance to 0 degrees and read it just like the old light with no advance features?
Yes , that's how I use mine most of the time , my biggest bitch is , the dial moves very easy , I.e.; I always forget to check to make sure its on zero
I guess the sweet spot is a dial timing light from about 20 years ago...not a digital one, not an old simple one... I still have my Monkey Wards light from the mid 70s, it's not a clamp on, you have to remove the plug wire, and put the timing light connector between the plug and the wire (or the dist cap and the wire). I don't use it very often! Almost always, I use my 20some year old Sears light with the dial on it. Really handy for checking total timing, etc on engines that don't have all the degree marks on them (and the degree marks can be difficult to read, compared to Zero)
I've had two "dial-back" timing lights and the both failed relatively early in their lives. I now just borrow my neighbor's battery operated light. I like it so well, I might just get one of my own.
My snap on timing light (40 yrs old) still operates but the dial stopped working for the advance. like it was stated above, if you want 36 degrees total simply set the dial at 36 and rev the engine to 3000 or so and turn the dist until the timing mark is on the zero. as luck would have it a few years back I bought a Sears dial timing light at a swap for 5 bucks, works great. I was at another swap last week and bought an NOS one in the box for 20 bucks... it seems the older I get the more I seem to need backup vintage tools so I don't have to buy any modern crap
I bought my Cornwell dialback 20 years ago. It works great, when you are trying to diagnose an ignition problem it will let you know exactly how much the vacuum and mechanical advances are working. To have a tach readout on one would be a plus for that. Downside..... It doesn't play well with MSD6 boxes. It will be off as much as 15 degrees. Then I break out the old light.
My old Snap on, dial type failed after 30? years or so. I bought a cheap one, worked once. So I sent my old one with the Snap On guy for overhaul. They fixed it, upgraded the light, new bigger clamp, and charged me a bundle. I was not thrilled with the price, but after using it just once, i was really glad to have it back. My engine guru told me "that was the best one they ever made, don't buy a new one." Snap on guy echoed that as well. Looking at the one above, maybe it was more than 30 years.
I have four, the old dial Craftsman gets used most, the Actron is a close second, Nieholf only used once to verify it actually works and the antique Sun has never worked for me but it's too cool to throw away.
I have the same one, purchased in the early 80’s. It’s still in perfect shape except where the inductive clamp was laying on the hot header...
Here's my timing light...a vacuum gauge. A vacuum gauge lets the engine tell you what it likes. A timing light is you trying to telling the engine what it SHOULD like.
About 1982 I bought a dial back Mac tool timing light. Loved that thing. Had to have a dial as I didn't have access to a distributor machine anymore. And I always know what my timing numbers are both at idle and above 2200. Anyway around 2012 some dumbass broke into my shop and stole it with a few other tools. I kept it immaculate, after every use I wiped it and the cords down and back into its original plastic case... Now I just have a cheap basic digital adjustable one that was on the wall at the local orielly parts store... Sure do miss my Mac !!
A silly goose with a Flying A station in Santa Clara let my 'crew' and me use his shop and outside perimeter to prep our Fords for Fremont Drags...Regular Saturday afternoon 'til evening pastime. Eddie Q. had a '56 Tudor, 312, T85 box...Eddie was 'singin' in the rain', using Gene's electric timing light...Nice chrome (Niehoff? Allied? Can't remember) 120 Volt A/C light. Very bright. Suddenly... Eddie let out a yell, was shaking all over like Elvis Presley! I ran and kicked him sideways, the plug jerked out of the wall, Eddie fell into the puddle he'd been standing in... Nervous laughter all around after, but Eddie laughed least. He was shocked that a timing light could 'light him up'. Imagine: A metal gun, chrome, plugged into an A/C receptacle, with NO ground talon. Just a 2 wire plug.
I've got an old Vane timing light that is similar to that. Dad bought it when he did his apprenticeship in the 60's. No handle, just a cylinder to hold on to. No power leads - one lead plugs into #1 plug lead, and the other plugs into #1 sparkplug. Runs on high tension rather than +12V like the powered ones. The insulation is becoming a little worn... the kids refer to it as "the bitey timing light". They love watching me use it and jump every time it whacks me. If I can find it, I'll post a picture - shed is a mess after finishing one project and starting another. Cheers, Harv
First, the standard max vacuum and DON't back it off one inch, and mark the distributor. Next, hook up vacuum advance and take it up to about 2000 rpm, again check for max vacuum and mark the distributor again. Both marks you made will be very close, so I just split the difference. Test drive and make sure there's no ping.
if you have a 40 year old anything and have to replace it, you will be buying another in 5 years or less. I have two antique electric fans. both work fine... one is from the 1930's. seems like every two or 3 years I am replacing new fans I buy.... same thing with small heaters.
Yeah... but it was Dad's tool, and it still works... mostly. I can't throw it away. The neighbours kids are building up a good vocabulary listening to me swear at it though....Lol. Managed to find it... it was hiding behind some stuff. Cheers, Harv
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