Timing Lights

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pjc360

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Does anyone know where to get replacement parts for timing lights?
I nhave a kal-equip model 4185 dial back timing light and the other night i was trying to help a friend time his small block chevy and he dropped my light on the concrete and it busted the dial knob to ****. I pulled my truck in to check the initial timing with it to see if it was still working and it read 14 degrees at idle wich is what i have always had it set at. I would like to be able to find a replacment dial knob for it, but i have not had much success in finding one.
I started to look at other lights and i can get a brand new actron model cp7529 for 65 bucks and its digital with rpm read out on it, and i'm pretty sure my kal-equip light is made by actron too.
But then i started reading about these digital timing lights not being accurate with cd ignition's. I am running a crane cams hi-6 but my older dial back kal-equip light has been doing just fine reading my timing. I have checked tdc with a piston stop and my kal-equip dial back light has read my timing just fine with the crane box, so i dont see why a newer digital light would have any trouble?
 
We have a Bazillion knobs here are work. If you can post pics, I might be able to hook ya up. Measure the shaft diameter too, of you can.
 
I also noticed that the lens is a little loose on the light as well, is that something i can fix by taking the light apart? When i get home from work tonight i will take pictures of the light and post them, and i will take the light apart and see what i can figure out with it. Just a bummer this happened i really like this light.
 
I just wanted to post an update here with my timing light situation. Yesterday The Actron 7529 digital timing light that i ordered arrived, so i decided to try it out on my engine. Now with my older dial back kal-equip light model 4185 i set my initial timing for 14 degrees wich made my total timing land at 32 degrees, then i had my vaccum advance set to add another 10 degrees of timing at idle with it being on manifold vaccum. So at idle i was at 24 degrees with 14 initial + another 10 from vaccum advance.
So i heck my timing with this brand new digital actron light and this new actron light reads 28.5 degrees at idle... So i unhooked the vaccum advance and plugged the port at the carburetor and checked the initial timing with the new digital actron light and it read my initial timing at 16.5 degrees, so then i decided to read my total timing with the new digital actron light and it read 34.5 degrees total timing.
So There is obviously something wrong with one of my timing lights. I dont know wich one is off or if they are both off?!?!? So last night i dialed back my inital timing to read 14 degrees on the new digital actron light and my total timing then read 32 degrees with the new digital actron light and i dialed back the vaccum advance to add 10 degrees of timing at idle wich makes it idle at 24 degrees, 14 initial + another 10 from vaccum advance. Wich is where i thought my timing was this whole time, after doing that i grabbed my older dial back kal-equip light and checked to see what it would read and at an idle with my vaccum advance hooked up the kal-equip light read 20 degrees at idle.
So i am going to call a friend of mine that has a dial back light and see if he will let me come over and barrow his light just to see if his light matches one of the readings of the two lights that i have and if his light matches one of my lights then whatever light his matches i will have to assume that the other light of mine is wrong.... I dont know what else to do here? I know that the mark on my balancer is correct because i have checked top dead center with a piston stop and the original mark on my balancer was correct when i checked top dead center with a piston stop.
So what light do you guys think is wrong? My older dial back kal-equip light, or this brand new digital actron light?
 
DO NOT try to check one "dial up" light with ANOTHER "dial up" light

Get on craigslist or your local "nickel adds" paper or garage sales and go find yourself an old, cheap "regular" NON "dial up" light, even if it's a NEON lamp (They don't need separate power, just work right off a spark plug. They ARE "dim")

AND...............if you run MSD there might be an issue. Google it.
 
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