Setting the timing on your engine is one of the most misunderstood adjustments, but the information on this video will help you understand and answer all of your questions about ignition timing.
Well done ! So often the amateurs know their subject but not how- to on videography ... bad script, shaky camera,lighting, etc. But this is so easy to watch. Except for the music, which doesn't add anything. Thanks !
you guys have great teaching and explanation skills. Loved the video. Thanks for the knowledge too. Much appreciated and thanks for being generous with your knowledge.
@catburner Static timing means "to install the distributor at the specified timing" as indicated on the emission sticker. When the timing pointer is at , say 12 deg. BTDC on the compression stroke, then install your distributor. You don't install the distributor at 0 deg.
Nice video. I'm glad to see you're enjoying the joy of the magnum 6! I have one myself. It's a 99 4x4. I also have a 98 5.2 v8 Dakota 2 wheeler with nearly 195k miles still running strong and all I've done to it was one water pump change and I think 1 battery change. As far as my other Dakota the v6.....oh boy here we go......, I have replaced the freeze plugs. Nasty coolant drips, i changed the main bearings along with the oil pump and pick up tube, timing chain, the starter, distributor, oil pressure sensor, idle control sensor, crankshaft positioning sensor, BOTH cylinder heads, they had hairline cracks on the laps between the exhaust and intake valves all 12 of them ( this is prone to all v6 daks until they changed to the 3.7)so now I have new and very clean cylinder heads with perfect valves and springs, and of coarse have replaced ALL gaskets with fel pro ones. I'm starting to get a slight power steering drip but that's not hard to do. Anyway, this long laundry list of repairs on my 3.9 Dakota and it runs really well. No sludge no carbon build up just a clean well balanced 3.9 machine. Its a love hate relationship with the 3.9 magnums. the 318's are just perfect no problems or issues as long as you maintain them. I'm the 3rd owner on my 3.9 Dakota so this truck was not taking care of till I got. I am the original owner on my v8 Dakota. My point is when your 3.9 is talking to you listen to it or you'll be sorry later. Great vid and I like your idea of writing your trucks info and milage on top of the radiator. I'll do the same with a label maker so its cleaner and peels right off.
Dumpster is right. These two MSD associates are my go to mechanics. Now I need to borrow a timing light. Havent need one since the 80s and didnt know, what I now know, how good it can be.
The EST distributor module on the side can also control injector firing, make sure to plug in BOTH connectors on the side or else your injectors won't fire, or the distributor won't get energized. Make sure to unplug the EST timing control before adjusting timing, it'll be a little black coloured coupling with a single black striped tan wire (I found mine on the passenger side coming out of the wiring harness, don't get it confused with the grey coupling near the distributor, the engine won't start at all with that unplugged) which then signals a code 42 stored in the ECM. This disables the EST so the distributor can be mechanically timed accurately, which is why the emissions label usually will say to set timing at 0 degrees, read your label to get the specific degree of course. Once timing has been set, plug the EST single wire coupling back in, and restart the ECM by pulling its power fuse under the hood, or disconnecting and connecting the battery. (disable any anti theft features on your car before doing so, or you may be accidently locked out from those devices due to a code reset) The EST will then do its job normally by advancing the timing accordingly, and retarding the timing if spark knock is detected.
@catburner Try 8 deg. btdc, which is what the 1988 305 ( in the C1500 ) timing spec is. Install distributor only after the damper slot is aligned with 8 deg. btdc (compression stroke # 1 cyl.) When installed, the dist. rotor should point exactly at the # 1 cap terminal. Then tighten down and test with timing light. Should not harm engine.
What ever happened to removing the hood and having you mechanic sitting in the engine bay adjusting it for performance while you nail it down the neighborhood streets for the best results physically tuning it? No Seat belts?
Eric Lubeck unfortunately my friend those days are gone. However it does bring back some great memories of hanging out with my buddies talking about how fast we could go and who had the fast car in town.
Lol yeah i kinda feel stupid for asking that. I took apart a 351 with my dad and a few of my buddies, and they all pointed it out to me saying "you know everything about engines but you dont know how a HB goes on the nose of the crank?" Of course we all joke around with each other lol but i guess you can never stop learning lol. But thanks so much!
@Lokivoid it is a TBI fuelinjected setup , turns out after a HG is still blew smoke out of the exhaust , its coolant burning and it kills my o2 sensor and throws of the AFR , my heads might be warped .
"cause Roadkill. that's why. Last engine I built was a 340. It didn't turn over half a turn and it was running. I don't need to watch this but I still do.
my good idea is to clip the timing light cable on no.1 plug lead up near the dizzy cap.It stops you burning your fingers on the pipes , and prevents the clip coming into contact with the hot pipes.
The ballancer (sp) will only go on in one way, You will have a key in the crank to slide it onto. The ballancer will have a zero mark on it already. If you don't have a roll back light, get a timing tape and mark the ballancer with the marks and take it off. The come off anyway. I always set total timing, SBC usually about 34*. range is about 32-36. Your motor will have a sweet spot. You have to find what your motor likes. Good luck!!
They're correct any modern ignition system travels positive to ground you may be thinking of an old 6 volt system while most of those still ground to negative I believe there were some early 6 volt positive ground systems where positive was actually connected to the frame. The electricity would have to travel through the distrbutor and the coil first anyway in order to boost voltage through the coil and jump the plug gap otherwise 12 volts isn't near enough to even spark
@PsychoFreke The best way is to remove the heads and locate #1 cylinder...rotate engine with a breaker bar to get #1 cylinder at TDC (top dead center)...you can then mark you balancer with the "neat little white strip" which are quite cheap...(make sure you put on the white strip with "0" lining up with the pointer that is bolted to the engine)
thanks for video guys I been watching this over and over to understand better .I went ahead and bought a nice timing light to check it I'm not having any problems but good to set it up for correctly .however the mark on the balancer on my 79 Corvette l48 engine is way after the angle tab readings .how can I check that now .does it have to be withing the indicator tab .or mechanic set it up like that on purpose after he put a crane cam on it .thanks
I know this video is quite old but the timing still doesn't make sense to me. Do you set the cam physically to 12° BTC or do you leave the engine at 0° and rotate the distributor until the light reads 12°?
Sounds like its detonating-have you tried putting in premium and see if it does the same. You should probably knock back the timing a few degrees and see if that helps.
I used 87 on a premium only Acura 93 vigor.... Failed ignition timing (09 BTDC) during a smog check because of the gas I used during the test.. It would be great if you guys made a video explaining why this happens.
today i tried to follow your instructions when i hooked up the light it read 40 advanced at idle.. whats wrong? it didnt run bad before but i set it without light an always wanted to dial it in.. but couldnt troubleshoot my issue help!
@PhilinThebox3 sounds like the distributer is a tooth off..when you drop it in it sets the gears together and spins a hair as it lowers.its easy to do..or if its not stock motor or distributer does it have something obstructing it from turning? firewall?
Quick question, so what if you are installing a completely new harmonic balancer? How would you place it in relation to the timing gear on the crank? Like say on a small block, i have the dot on the cam timing gear aligned with the dot on the crank timing gear facing each other. How would i position the new balancer? And do all harmonic balancers have some sort of indication of TDC?
hi, when you set your Total timing at 35deg 4000RPM do you need to UNPLUG the vacuum adv ?? and I got a MSD 6al ignition box, does it will affect the reading?
Were would you set the timing on a 1946 Cadillac Flathead V8. I marked TDC on my Harmonic Balancer, when I had the Head off. When putting the timing light should it fire before TDC or after. My Harmonic markings were long gone. ANY HELP... Thanks
Hey i kno the steering column your talking about, on those column even ones that go into the 90s have rod that goes from the center of the column under the steering wheel and down to the just above the brake pedal there is a little switch , if the bolts in the switch get loose which they always do it will kill the ignition power just the way the key would if you turn it, sometimes they are adjustable and need to be set with some trial and error to adjust when turning the key activates the switch
@catburner Camaro uses Sealed Power CS793, and C1500 uses CS711. Difference there is. Anyway, the procedure I described, worked for my 300-6 motor. So, with TBI and perhaps a computer, things are different. Obviously, you have not removed the front chain cover and tampered with the crank/cam gear timing marks? Why the white smoke, I wonder... Intereseting problem, and I will continue to research, but I will probably be of no help. Isn't white smoke indicator of coolant leakage?
Great video, Went outside and tried it on my old BMW e30 ( m20b20 with jetronic with mechanical distributor on the side of the block ) Loosened the hold-down-clamp. Tried turning .... nothing, won't budge at all. Gave it a few gentle taps to loosen it... nothing Grabbed it with both hands ( cap off ) and threw some muscle at it.... nothing. Tried lifting it, also no effect. Any tips on loosening this mofo so i can turn it a bit?
Hi Guys, big shout from Germany. Hell of a good training lesson on how to tune up your engine. Thank you alot guys. Would be nice if you get over the pond and tune up my Dauntless 225 with me ;-) Thanx, thanx, thanx!
I've done a few stock SBCs' total timing like this. I learned it from THIS VIDEO. Don't forget to disco the vac hose. Rev it up til the advance quits climbing, it'll stay dead steady. That's when you lock the dizzy at 34-36* and bingo presto it'll run awesome. 😁like totally🤘 😁🤘😁party on!!😁🤘 😁🤘😁excellent😁🤘😁 Mullet joke
Y'all forgot about vacuum advance. SBC's love direct vacuum advance. BBC's will miss fire at idle, they like ported vacuum advance. You have to play around the more change from stock you have. Even stock, the above holds true.
After they adjusted the total timing setting to 35 degrees and rechecked the idle timing setting and came up with 19 degrees, it might be less confusing if they called 19 degrees the adjusted initial timing where as the initial setting was12 degrees . I’m just trying to make it more clear.
I keep hearing that when using an msd box, a standard timing light can give you a false reading because of the multiple sparks associated with an msd box. Any thoughts? And of course, an msd timing light is 200+ .
@seapeddler yes , i've been told by many that white smoke means coolant and black means rich , but my experience tells me different , my oil smells like gas and i get white smoke that smells like raw gas , horrible MPG's , the guys @ TGO.org are also helping diagnose this problem . no sollution yet.
hey i have small block 305 chevy , stock evrything , and when ever i try to adjust my spark timing , after i set my engine to tdc " 0 mark " @ idle i shut off my engine , connect my est plugg and start up again my engine advances itself 15 degrees and runs real rich " white smoke out of thetail pies" what am i doing wrong ?
almost forgot but essential: START by ensuring that the engine has the correct spark plugs which are gapped correctly. That the dizzy has a fresh condensor and points and that the points gap has been set correctly. Use a good clean cap and a good rotor. (3)
koay i bought a 6al with pro billet and blue blaster and it worked sweet but recently i picked up a 307 impala with no carb or distributor so i looked on the net and ended up buying a streetfire ignition because it was guaranteed by you msd and it was cheap now ive fitted it double checked and triple checked the initial and played with the advance it tries to run but if i give it gas it backfires like an animal,also fitted with brand new holley do you guys get many returns of these
The Vortec 350s and 4.3s,you don't set the distribitor with a timing light.It is set with a scan tool.The part inside the distribitor tells the computer when to fire the fuel injectors
