Which timing light should I buy?

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SGBARRACUDA

SGBARRACUDA

ROY
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I need to move into modern times and buy a dial back style timing light.
My question is, Who makes a good, user friendly, durable dial back timing light? Thanks in advance for your help.
 
I bought a Craftsman one last year. It cost $69. No frills just a basic dial back light. I'm very happy with it. As a matter of fact I just used it this afternoon.
Ted
 
A high quality digital such as Mac or Snap On will give you the best results if you just gotta have a dial back light. toolmanmike will give you some good advice. No replacement for quality.
 
I have a craftsman professional digital that I'm very satisfied with.
 
OTC has offered high quality timing lights in the past without the high $$ price tags.

I agree with Rob about asking Toolmanmike for the current best bang for the buck....
 
RustyRatRod said:
A high quality digital such as Mac or Snap On will give you the best results if you just gotta have a dial back light. toolmanmike will give you some good advice. No replacement for quality.
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This. Picked up an older Mac non digital timing light,years back. Kudos to Tool Man Mike, for sending me needed replacement parts ,a while back. Great guy,to deal with. Supposedly, some of the newer digital timing lights,can have issues with the older non digital MSD capacitor boxes. Never seen it, might be worth a mention depending on your ignition setup.
 
Thanks for all the tips and yes I will get in contact with toolmanmike. I would like to buy one that is compatible with stock or MSD ignitions. Man I luv this place! You guys are great!
 
Just used my Innova 5568 for the first time today and LOVE IT!!!

Dial back with tach, easy to use.

Decently priced on Amazon.

I have MSD 6AL.
 
SGBARRACUDA said:
I was looking at the 5568 and the 3568 Innova on Amazon but they both have mixed reviews.
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The 5568 has 151 5 star reviews 18 4 star reviews and only 15 3 star or less reviews on Amazon. I think thats pretty good.

Generally people are more inclined to give a review of something they have a complaint about.

Looks like if you have a problem you might as well buy a new one vs. repair but thats pretty much the case with a lot of electronics these days.
 
This is the review that concerns me the most as I need it to work with a 7 AL-2 MSD box.

My wife purchased this Timing Light for me as a Christmas gift and it has some of the nicest features you could imagine. Only one problem though, it does not function with any vehicle that has an aftermarket MSD or Mallory ignition system installed. It functions sporadically when these type of ignition system are installed on your vehicle and the MSD website confirms this as well. Many timing lights have trouble reading the MSD's capacitive discharge multiple sparks. Dial back timing lights are not recommended either.

Very disappointing that I must send back this full featured Timing Light because it simply does not work with MSD (Multiple Spark Discharge) ignition systems.
 
Hey Roy,
I just used KnuckleDuster timing light tonite and been doing my timing with a $100 Bosch timing light I bought at Oreilly's to use till my Blue point Timing Light gets repaired....
His timing light is exactly like my Blue Point Timing light except mine is blue and he paid the same I am paying to have mine fixed.....Not recommended the Bosch one by the way.
Same timing light as my bluepoint and I set timing with it on many many vehicles.
My dealer stocks the cables and was very surprised it was not a bad cable...He said it was the first he had to send one in...
I recommend it !!!
 
On the -6, it should still work as a non-dialback. Just install a timing tape on the balancer.
I love my old Mac DB lite. Came with tac, and flash lite. THe 1/2 degree resolution, IMO, is overkill, tho. The up/down buttons are kinda slow.Ok, so I dont love it. I just like it a lot.
 
I've made a interesting discovery. No advance timing lights are believed to work with MSD. The multiple spark confuses most all lights and gives them inaccurate advance readings. The old Mac Tools lights were believed to work but I don't know how or why. Those lights haven't been made for years. I believe they were once made by Actron but those lights haven't been made for years. MSD has 2 lights available on their site but they are not advance lights. They recommend a standard inductive pick up light and a marked balancer. I have sold and personally used a Innova light like #5568. It is a electronic advance with tach and voltage features. It is a bit confusing to use but very accurate. The dial advance lights I have had issues with. The dials can come loose from the advance switch and cause the readings to be many degrees off. Another good feature to look for is a metal inductive spark pick-up with detachable leads. The plastic pick-ups will melt against manifolds and headers and if you melt the leads or damage them in the fan, they can be replaced without having to buy a new light. Most new lights have replaceable leads. Summit Racing has quite a few Innova lights and are reasonably priced. They even offer the replacement leads for $21. Good luck. toolmanmike
 
toolmanmike said:
I've made a interesting discovery. No advance timing lights are believed to work with MSD. The multiple spark confuses most all lights and gives them inaccurate advance readings. The old Mac Tools lights were believed to work but I don't know how or why. Those lights haven't been made for years. I believe they were once made by Actron but those lights haven't been made for years. MSD has 2 lights available on their site but they are not advance lights. They recommend a standard inductive pick up light and a marked balancer. I have sold and personally used a Innova light like #5568. It is a electronic advance with tach and voltage features. It is a bit confusing to use but very accurate. The dial advance lights I have had issues with. The dials can come loose from the advance switch and cause the readings to be many degrees off. Another good feature to look for is a metal inductive spark pick-up with detachable leads. The plastic pick-ups will melt against manifolds and headers and if you melt the leads or damage them in the fan, they can be replaced without having to buy a new light. Most new lights have replaceable leads. Summit Racing has quite a few Innova lights and are reasonably priced. They even offer the replacement leads for $21. Good luck. toolmanmike
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I went to the MSD site and found out the same as you did. They recommend a standard light and a timing tape. On my race car with the 7AL-2 and a fluid dampener a regular light isn't a problem because it has the degrees right on it it. But on my Street car you can't set initial past about 12 degrees because the balancer mark disappears behind the water pump. This is why I thought a dial back would solve all my problems. I guess i need to use a timing tape on my street car and use my old timing light. Thanks for all your research and help.------Roy
 
IMO buying a dial back is a waste. You can't use one on an MSD.
 
AJ/FormS said:
Doesnt the multiple spark feature turn off around 3000rpm? Thats about when my MAC lite seems to read accurate.
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It does and there was talk about that on some forums. I don't know if I could trust the advance at idle with multi spark going on though. I have never messed with MSD but I have sold a lot of timing lights over the years with rave results.
 
I just got off the phone with MAC Tech Service. The timing lights have copper core leads and with the multi spark and the noise the copper core picks up, it drives the advance circuitry crazy. If the leads were shielded it would help but there's still the multiple sparks. The old MAC lights were made by Actron and may have had shielded wires in the lead set. Actron still makes lights and OTC has some good looking ones with metal pickups and detachable leadsets in standard, dial and digital advance. tmm
 
toolmanmike said:
It does and there was talk about that on some forums. I don't know if I could trust the advance at idle with multi spark going on though. I have never messed with MSD but I have sold a lot of timing lights over the years with rave results.
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MSD will tell you to use a non-advance light.
 
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