hellas85stang

here s 1 for yall..lol what do yall set ya totle timing at..not your initial..but totle....2 diff things..

5.0stanger

I could imagine when he says he is flat out broke and can't afford it, he means he is flat out broke. Wait till you can get one or borrow one(or let these money bags donate one to ya)

PRO50SC

It's predetermined by the ecm. Also depends on how much base timing you have.

92hatchLX

Here's another suggestion, get a job. If you can't do that, I'm sure that a shop or autozone would check your timing for free or advance it for you for like 5 or 10 bucks. If still can't afford that, just wait.

hellas85stang

i kow several guys say they can by ear..but timing is initial and totle timing...and every1 i see says that i get a light on it and its like 5-6-7-8 degrees off and thats alot.....besides mostof those shade tree guys dont even knowwhat ittakesto truly time a engine...

vristang

For the first 9yrs I owned my GT, I did not own a timing light. Never used one. Set it by ear. It is not that hard to do IF YOU ARE A LITTLE CAUTIOUS.

Don't gun it straight out of the driveway.

Take it easy and run the rpms up slow and in stages.
Run the car up to 2500 or so, and close the throttle (leaving it in gear).
If all seems well (you will know if it isn't) then run the rpms a little higher next time.

ONLY MAKE VERY SMALL CHANGES TO THE DIST ORIENTATION.
MAKE CHANGES WHILE THE CAR IS COMPLETELY WARMED UP / HOT

I suggest marking the initial setting you have before making any adjustments. A white paint pen works well. This way if everything goes haywire, you can turn back to where you are now.

There is another "old school" way.
I am not completely familiar with it, but it involves using a vac gauge at idle.
Maybe someone else knows better?
I don't think this would be appropriate for efi though.


If the car runs fine then you probably don't need to mess with it anyway.

My thoughts on the timing light are this.
It is a great way to set to stock timing. If you are adjusting your timing for power however, you will advance it until you hear the motor complain, then back it off a bit. This is the standard process anyway.
Why do you need to know the timing degrees for that? It is just a useless number without the engine performance to put it in perspective.

I do own a timing light now. The only reason is that I am doing my tuning with a tweecer, and all the EEC-IV timing tables are given in total timing.

My thoughts
jason

frop

Make a withdrawal from the Bank of Mom...

Twister

I can only add one thing, hit the marks on the balancer with white spray paint and quickly wipe the paint off, you only want the marks white so you can see them better

Black Snake

Got to a autozone, they rent out timing lights and all you pay is the diposit they will give you your money back when ur done.

hellas85stang

doit timing without a timing light andsayin its just as good by ear...is like sayinghigher octain doesnt make a diff... try it andsee for yaself...