For some reason, my timing mark is no where near TDC. I was hoping to get some tips on timing by ear. Anybody have a process for this?
Ahh, yeah tried that and $100 dollars later I have a new timing indicator, new harmonic balancer and a timing mark that's still no where near TDC. Some day when my kids are out of the house and Im retired maybe I'll have another go at it. Im told there's 2 types of SBC balancer. I bought the one that was "specifically for that motor, from the guy I bought the motor from, etc, etc. Typically I like to do stuff the right way, but this time Im lookin for the easy way out.
Advance it a litlle, drive around the block, and if it doesn't detonate under acceleration, then advance it a little more. Repeat. We you get all the way advanced then pull it back a degree. Or just fix the mark.
I had my journeyman help me do it one time to an old blazer I had. I sat and did a brakestand while he was under the hood adjusting the timing and carb. He'd go just till it pinged and backed it off abit If I remember correctly. He called it power tuning, not sure if it was bullshit or not. Worked well in my situation.
Assuming your engine has enough compression to ping (and you can hear it over the exhaust), advance til pings on hard acceleration and back off a 1/4 inch(?) of travel on your distributors base where it meets the engine block or intake manifold. If it doesn't crank all fucked up (too advanced), and doesn't ping, it should be fine
Fire the motor up, listen to it. Really listen to it. Now slowly start to turn the Dist. till you hear the motor start to labor. Now turn the other direction... you'll hear it get better, but keep going till it starts to labor again. Now work your way back till it sounds right again. You'll know it cause you've now heard it labor in both directions. Stop when you feel it sounds, and feels right. Turn the motor off. Re start, it should start quick, if it dosen't your still alittle off. Turn it just a hair and re-try....If it gets worse your going the wrong way. You'll get it done quicker than you think and it will be right for the motor. I tossed my light 30 years ago. Balncers are almost always a little wrong, and you can tune better by ear and listening to how the motor wants to run, than trying to force it to run the way it's supose to. Good Luck!
I've got a few frequent flyer miles, you wanna head on out and help me knock this out? I'll even have Barnett make you a cup of his famous iced coffee!
Yes there is a top mark harmonic balancer and a side marker. If you are sure you got the right timing cover and balancer combo, make sure you don't have it 180 off. SBCs will run 180 off and you can never get em timed right. Usually you get em 30-40 degrees advanced trying to get them to run at all. These guys all sound like they have good advice on playin' it by ear, I'm just offerin some free advice--I've seen alot of hours wasted on trying to get it right after being off 180 to begin with.
Good point and I have had that problem previously. Takes a few years to really understand what 4 stroke means! Im in the ball park, the car is running great. I just want to get it dialed in to maximize ET at the up coming Kontinentals "Day of the Drags".
You can set timing with a vacuum gauge connected to manifold vacuum if your cam isn't too radical. With the engine at idle, advance the timing until you get the highest reading, then retard the distributor until the reading drops off about 1 inch. The old mechanic I learned this from (about 40 years ago) swore by it. Or you can do it by ear. If you hear a lot of pinging it's too far advanced, if you don't hear any it's too retarded. Either way will work.
You got it man! I'll even throw in 2 pig sandwiches, a Richard Hailey's greatest hits CD and all the greasy fries you can eat! Saw Richard live, I think he cooks pork better than he sings. Not really meant to be a compliment.
Bring her up to 3k or so pull the lead in until it starts to stumble a little. Back up until it cleans up and nail it down . Give it a run around the block and if it doesn't ping thrash the hell out of it . I fit pings back it up just a skosh and then try it again .LOL Repeat process until satisfied . If that don't fix it ,it's broke .LOL T.OUT
"back in the day" i always set my timing by ear, then i learned that timing involves a whole lot more than setting initial advance! to get it really right, it takes many times of trial and error, adjusting vacuum advance, adjusting how much mechanical total advance and when etc. then the first time you take a trip to the mountains or a real hot day you'll want to adjust it and you'll need a baseline timing figure to go back to. it's pretty simple to rig up a piston stop in a spark plug hole and crank the engine forward and back to find the TRUE TDC, then mark your damper accordingly. no more guessing.
You beat me to it: Drill the centre out of an old spark plug, hand drill is fine, push a piece of 1/4" or 5/16" threaded rod, or a full threaded bolt, with nuts on each end to adjust it, and make a piston stop. Screw it into cyl 1 then turn your motor in each direction until it GENTLY stops against the bolt. Marking each place on the damper, next to your timing pointer. TDC is exactly dead centre between the two marks. Paint or dot punch a mark on your damper. Ten minutes work and you have your TDC marked dead on, no 'ear work' necessary. Course, you still have to listen for pinging when you floor it, but at least you have a mark to start with and use a timing light on to get somewhere near perfect
Or just buy one........about $10 ... Proform mades them......and Summit sells them...... Works great .....I have had mine for years......
Does it really matter where the mark is as long as the engine is performing at it's maximum efficiency for the conditions that currently exist?...not to me. If you use a light and go by the book on an early 60's Olds or Pontiac, that thing will ping like a bitch. We can't get the gas they were designed to run on. Guys in flat low Tampa will probably have a different setting than guys living in the mountains of Denver.The gas is probably a different blend for the two locations as well as the different terrain/elevation. I try to get the maximum amount of advance without it pinging under my normal driving habits. I'll jack the advance up and test it out on a grade in high gear. Slow down and then accelerate. If it pings back it off some. I don't like to lug an engine so if it just starts to ping and then quits, I don't worry because I'm either going to grab another gear if it's manual or floor it to get the automatic to shift gears eliminating the pinging before it ever happens. If you are in the habit of pulling long grades in high gear and it pings, you won't be able to run as much advance as I do. My repro flathead crank pulley has no mark. I never got the book out to see what the Stude motor called for. Don't forget to file the points and set the dwell before you play with the timing.(if it has any) The therorists may cringe at this but it's worked well for me amd I've never had to change my practice as the octane levels dropped over the years and lead was eliminated. I still get the best I can with what I got. I have fond memories as a young kid saving up for a "new" inductive timing light. Just like the pros used baby! I was proud as a peacock of that thing. If I could find it I think I still could hook it up.
I have done it everyway mentioned here and most work well if you have the "touch" or ear. If you understand your engine you can optimize the timing for the quality of fuel. I still reccomend some form of measureing device like the vacuum guage, as not many ametuers can consistenly time an engine by ear and come cloer than 5 degrees every time. Personally I would use a top dead finder as mentioned so you have a reference point, and mark it on the damper. I time everything with a dialback light and put more emphasis on total advance than I do on initial, for the reason mentioned, the baseline was established for most old cars when the fuel formulation was much different. I have a 72 Ford 300-6 that is finnicky, specs say 8 and it pings like crazy there, less than 6 and the power drops off noticable. No way can I get that engine dialed in by ear without a lot of trial and error.
Easy--advance it until you hear a loud "BANG". Get down on your knees and look under--if rods on the ground look kinda battered but OK, timing should be set 10 degrees back from there; If rods are actually bent and/or crank is in more than three pieces, better backitoff 15... Seriously, make the doohickey shown (tip--heat the plug shell as haot as you can on stove while wife is out shopping to make it easier to tap) and FIND YOUR TDC! You are up the creek and TDC is your paddle! And, as Ray said, there's lots more than initial setting. Many stock Chevies have curves that are too long and too slow, both centrifugal and vac, and if you set one of these babies to a good idle setting you will have about 10 degrees too much at high speed--though with the factory curve, it might never get to full advance. For a stock distributor, AFTER you find&mark TDC, my personal formula to start tuning would be based on cheapy Moroso curve kit with weights and lightest springs in box, maybe abot 7-10 initial to start with, AND a non-EGR vac can with about 12 degrees stamped on the shank hooked to manifold vac. Unless you have something rare like a 65 HP Vette distributor, you can pretty well assume curve needs shortening and speeding up. Proper initial timing is incompatible with many stock curves!
yeah.............listen closly now......... ..........thanks guys...ill be here all day.......be sure to tip the bartender.
Bring it over to the shop and we'll fix it! I wanna make sure you beat "ol Dual Quad" at the Day of the Drags
CREASE, this is the ONLY way ive done it also, I tried the light..done what the recommended setting and its a turd when set up 8-10 dbtdc. Another thing thats a bitch is if its a tooth off on the distributor. Just do like Terry said and run it, chances are it will be great off the line and when warmed up it may be sluggish on the starter, then you know its just a little advance, but who cares it work great off the line
sbc when your rocking it nos 6 cylinder exhaust and intake just closing and opening nos one is at tdc, use a plastic straw if you wanna get precise not mark a piston ect. put dist. in, the terminal the rotor is closest to is your nos one so wire it 18436572 , the vac. canister will be pointed somewhere towards passenger fender, straight at the fender will be retarded but will get it running,counter clockwise will advance it,so start her up an advance it till the motor starts picking up, stop, thats your base line,to much compression it will live there maybe,advance it some for mpg on highway, play around get to know your motor ,check your plugs,if timing is good should see right at the bend of the electroid a difference in color,light color for the straight top part an at the bend darker is a timing mark, Godspeeds
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