Technical timing a sbc chevy with no timing mark visible??

Okay you wizards out there, a friend has a nice 55 chevy that he put a 350 with fast burn heads and 292 comp cam. He also put a serpentine belt on with p/s and a/c. The serpentine belt system blocks the stock timing mark and indicator. We have it running, starting, and it revs good and so on. He is concerned that he is not utiliizing the timing properly, Not knowing where he is at TDC as well as total advance is the problem.. I have heard of static timing, don't know what that is though.
How can we go about getting this motor properly timed???
Thanks

 

Warm it up. Take the belt off. Set timing. Install belt. Drive it.

You could also take the belt off. Zero the timing marks. Put some marks where you can see it with belt on. They will be at zero and you will have to guess a bit at advance, but better than nothing.

 

^^^ Could you install a shorter belt to run your water pump while you time? If not you gotta do it fast, preferably with someone in the driver's seat to keep an eye on the temp gauge.

 

Stop !
Google "piston stop test" read it and understand it.
Make your own mark and pointer where you can see it.
Measure your balancer and do some math. Take the circumference and divide that by 360 degrees. Measure and make your advance mark or get a timing tape for it.

 

find tdc by any of several methods, i use 1 and 6 valve positions, stab the dist & start the car---rev the motor till you reach total advance set dist for max rpm. shut of motor ,start car, if it starts easy drive it , if it doesn't ping you are ok if it does adjust it ---works good even for race cars...

 

use a vacuum gauge

 

That's fantastic to dial In your initial timing, no better way to find that sweet spot. However it does nothing for total and that's what you need to know .
Also after you get the vacuum gauge reading right, you should get your light and note the degrees. The send the dizzy out for a recurve and have the initial locked there based off the total.

Pinging starts its damage long before you can hear it.

 

Make a piston stop out of an old spark plug. Use the money you saved and buy an advance timing light. With the advance timing light you can recurve your distributor and set your timing however you like.

 

Static timing is setting the timing with the engine not running.
Usually its close enough to get it started but still needs dynamic timing to get dialed in. Or repeat trial and error on the static until is perfect. However you deffinerly need a TDC mark and a advance mark.

Basically you need a test light hooked to the negative side of the coil.
Rotate the crank until the marks are where then are supposed to be.
Now rotating the distributor base will make the light go on and off. It takes a little bit to get the feel of it, but what you want is the light to just light on your #1 position.

 

I used to hold engine at pretty high idle and advance until it ran a little rough, then back it off a bit. When warmed up if it cranks over too hard, back it off a little more. Always worked for me.

 

What this guy said. Advance it until it pings on full throttle, then back it off.

 

after finding tdc , make marks at 90 either side of it and theres where you moun thr epointer , then put a timing tape on the dampner to move the marks , easier to check from the underside than trying to look thru the top , some of the gm trucks are this way because of the acessory mouunts ( my 7.4 is on the upper drivers side w scale and a mark 90 * from tdc on the pointer under the truck on the cover, its computer controlled but these are used for references )

 

stimpy, I will do as you suggest. Thanks

 

Yeah stimpy is really sharp!

But here's what I see. 20 year old balancers slip, 30 year old balances have slipped more, 40 year old balancers ? Well who knows.

With that in mind I always check them with a piston stop test before I get my light. It's become automatic for me. The 90* marks would work as long as the balancer hasn't slipped or that you have the correctly marked balancer on the engine. Most older stuff is worth fucking with unless you know where you are starting from. Takes 5 mins and can save soooo much aggravation to do a piston stop test

 

I had a 350 wth bowties heads and that same 292 comp cam, 10-1 comp. Ran hard, never liked the cam much, had enough duration to require a 3000 stall but not enough lift in my opinion. Do what the others have said on timing, find TDC. I ran mine with a no vacuum advance unilite 36 degrees in by 3000, 38 degrees on race gas.