How do you use a timing light with a dial?
The original dial-back lights employed a simple dial on the back of the light. In this case, you rev the engine to maximum advance and use the dial to line up the TDC mark with 0 (zero) timing on the tab. The dial on the light then indicated the total amount of advance. The modern…
The original dial-back lights employed a simple dial on the back of the light. In this case, you rev the engine to maximum advance and use the dial to line up the TDC mark with 0 (zero) timing on the tab. The dial on the light then indicated the total amount of advance. The modern version is a digital dial-back light.Click to see full answer. In respect to this, what should timing be set at on BBC?You always use the TDC mark to set the initial timing. The mark at 36 degrees (or so) is just to verify that the centrifugal advance is correct. When you bump the initial timing up, the total timing can get out of hand.Also, what happens if you advance timing too much? Symptoms of incorrect ignition timing are poor fuel economy, sluggish acceleration, hard starting, backfiring, or “pinging” or “spark knock”. Too little spark advance will cause low power, bad gas mileage, backfiring, and poor performance. Too much advance will cause hard starting and pre-ignition. Just so, how does an engine timing light work? When you pull the trigger of the timing light (with the engine running), each time the Number 1 plug fires, the timing light flashes a beam of light. The strobing timing light “freezes” the motion of the pulley and allows you to see how many degrees before or after TDC the spark is firing.How do you set timing without a timing light?Turn the engine to the timing mark you want: be sure the rotor is pointing at the #1 plug wire connector (inside distributor) if it’s not, turn the engine until the mark comes back; connect a test light between ground and the coil negative terminal; rotate the distributor clockwise until the light goes out; then turn
