Timing Lights with advance any good?

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my5thmopar

Life Long MOPAR Owner
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My 30 year old craftsman has a bad connector. I need to replace it and was wondering if the timing lights with advance are accurate? Do they work for setting total advance without using timing tape or making marks?
 
I'm sure there are "some." I don't like 'em and won't use 'em. Degree your balancer or get some timing tape. Simple

In a previous life, I sold auto parts/ hardware and other products for 15 years. Part of what we did was to repair, or send in for repair, automotive tools and instruments. I've seen several delay lights that were simply NOT ACCURATE.
 
...........I like them, use them all the time..........u still need ur marks just like a regular light.........kim............i've checked mine against the tape and its pretty accurate.
 
Have you check to see if you can get parts for the light? I had 25, or so year old Snap-on that I picked up at a swap meet and the external wiring was bad. I hunted around on Ebay, Craigs list and Google and finally found the cables. I don't remember where I got them, or exactly what I paid fror them but it was less than 20 bucks because I wasn't going to throw a bunch of money at it. I still have the light and keep it as a backup in the race car trailer, and we drag it out and check it against on we know is good.

Bill S.
 
I've also got an old Snap-on and it works great. Every so often I check it with a marked balancer and it's always dead on.
 
They sure make things easier. I've had my Craftsman dial back for about 15 years. Works great.
 
I've had my Snapon digital for well over 20 years and had to replace the inductive pickup once. It was big bucks back in the 80's but worth every dime. I could never see any appreciable difference by even a degree between that light and a tape.
 
just bought the top o the lline one from Cambodian Tire because it also has a Tach which I don't have in the car now I can't figure out how to check for my current total all in ,do I still set the light for the # I want and turn the dizzy till the mark lines up at zero like my old light or what , a little help here eh oldkimmer.darn it I should have bought the static light for 100 bucks less and got a cheap tach to go with it .
 
just bought the top o the lline one from Cambodian Tire because it also has a Tach which I don't have in the car now I can't figure out how to check for my current total all in ,do I still set the light for the # I want and turn the dizzy till the mark lines up at zero like my old light or what , a little help here eh oldkimmer.darn it I should have bought the static light for 100 bucks less and got a cheap tach to go with it .

Cambodian Tire? LMFAO! :cheers:

To check for total all in, rev it up to where all in should be, and dial in the light till you see zero on the damper and read the dial (or LED readout).

Cheers!
 
Cambodian Tire? LMFAO! :cheers:

To check for total all in, rev it up to where all in should be, and dial in the light till you see zero on the damper and read the dial (or LED readout).

Cheers!
thanks thats what I thought but the chinese instructions keep telling me to zero the light which is only going to tell me how much advance I have , which I already know, I have the blue bushing in my MSD dizzy which is 21 degrees , maybe I should drop that to the 18 degree black bushing
 
used to be Canadian Tire but they don't have much in the way of Canadian products anymore , they do however employ some top notch mechanics .
 
thanks thats what I thought but the chinese instructions keep telling me to zero the light which is only going to tell me how much advance I have , which I already know, I have the blue bushing in my MSD dizzy which is 21 degrees , maybe I should drop that to the 18 degree black bushing

First question... does that distrib have vacuum advance?
 
No its the MSD billet job with the mechanical advance , Brian set it up when he dynoed the motor but doing a little math in my head here I keep reading where people seem to think 16 is the good number for initial and Brian insists I should keep total at 34 or less , the 1/2 dozen pulls he supplied the sheets for showed best power at 32 total so I am looking to get it back to that if it`s not still there.
 
Brian knows his stuff. Use the black bushing and that wil bring you to 34 total, but is there any way drop it back another two degrees total? What are your cam specs? 16 initial might even be conserverative.

What's your elevation above sea level? Compression?
 
comp 10.2 :1 elevation well that depends which way I drive down the street and the tide tables , I live on an island in the north pacific ,I was wondering about the 16 initial as well but I want to get to 32 total in a perfect world . The black is the biggest bushing so that's my limitation I think , we'll just have to see how she runs with 14 initial since 14 plus the 18 advance is 32 , first I have to solve an even dumber problem however , the drivers side water pump blocks the dampener from sight all I can see is the back edge so I have to figure out a way to transfer the timing mark from the perimeter to the back side at the outer edge , heading out for some good sticky tape to draw a line on which I am then going to try to wrap over the edge so the line I draw on it wraps the edge at exactly the same place as the existing timing mark , should be fun in the cramped space available lol . Thanks for all the help by the way .
 
comp 10.2 :1 elevation well that depends which way I drive down the street and the tide tables , I live on an island in the north pacific ,I was wondering about the 16 initial as well but I want to get to 32 total in a perfect world . The black is the biggest bushing so that's my limitation I think , we'll just have to see how she runs with 14 initial since 14 plus the 18 advance is 32 , first I have to solve an even dumber problem however , the drivers side water pump blocks the dampener from sight all I can see is the back edge so I have to figure out a way to transfer the timing mark from the perimeter to the back side at the outer edge , heading out for some good sticky tape to draw a line on which I am then going to try to wrap over the edge so the line I draw on it wraps the edge at exactly the same place as the existing timing mark , should be fun in the cramped space available lol . Thanks for all the help by the way .

At sea level stick with Brian's recommendation. I use Mallory distribs which allow unlimited mech advance pullback with just a setscrew. I'd call MSD and see what they have to offer, you can't be the only one in the same boat so to speak.

Just use a white crayon to mark the outside of the damper and you're very welcome. :headbang:
 
ended up using a piece of green painters release tape along side the white timing mark and was able to get a bead on her through the brackets and behind the power steering pump . The dizzy appears to have been locked out by Brian I couldn't find / feel the post that the bushing goe's on unless the bushing sits up in the plate and the post is a lot shorter than the sketch in the MSD book , it also appears to have a heavy silver and a light silver spring setup which puts the all in much later than what Brian and I talked about so I'm going to have to call him and find out about that .the initial is now at 17 and the advance seems to settle in at 32-33 degrees at about 3200 rpm but that doesn't jive with the MSD chart for those springs ,I guess I`ll find out monday when I call him .
 
Ah, so the diz came with the engine.... Green tape works great on a new (not greasy) engine.

Differing srpings means a "dogleg" timing curve to me. I'm sure Brian and You will get it all sorted out, but on your side, it's always nice to come prepared if you have questions. :)
 
well it's not new but it's not too greasy either lol , I bought the motor back in August as a complete package carb to pan , diz to waterpump but the water pump was the longer one and wouldn't line up with my pully's , I'm trying to get everything switched around and ready for this summer ,including a trans swap to a built 904 I put together { my first trans build } should be a fun couple of weeks . the real problem with the timing was a flat black dampener , a flat black hose and a very narrow window between everything else to see the marks , once I highlighted the mark by creating some contrasting colour down in there it turned out I could actually see about a 1/4 inch of the mark on the dampener and timing it was easy it already had about 30 total playing with it put itm too high and resetting it to @ where it had 30 left it with 32 -33 total when warmed up so bingo , now to move on to the next thing , gonna order my converter , some poly lock mounts ,a dampened torque strap , and maybe a March pully kit so I can swap to the pump Brian supplied with the passenger side outlet to match the Champion rad I bought eliminating the home made crossover hose I made and used all the way across Canada last summer lol
PS on the origional topic it sure is nice having a new light with the tach feature
 
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