ccdguy

Hey guys... Got a nice deal on a timing light, so I hooked it up, but I should have known.... My 87 is in great shape for it's age, but I cannot see any marks at all on the harmonic balancer. They are just not visible as the balancer is a bit rusty from age. Short of installing a new balancer, are there any trick to making them visible, or getting the timing checked or bumped up? Sorry for the silly question, but I'm sure others saw this before too on stock 20 year + Mustangs..... Any suggestions? Thanks.

Sidewayz6.0

A piece of sand paper works wonders. Sand the crap off, and mark 0 with a marker or grease pen.

87 T TOP GT302

Be sure to unplug the spout before setting the timing or your just waisting your time.If you are sure what i'm talking about there is a clip of wires that plugs into the front of the distributor.There are a couple of black wires that go off that has a small clip on the end. Unplug that clip to set timing .For years I thought I was setting doing that when setting my timing but I was removing the big clip that goes to distributor .Wrong

ccdguy

Thanks.. I got that part, just wasn't sure if that rusty crap can be buffed off, without removing the marks on a 23 year old factory balancer, ya' know? I will try to buff it off. Probably still running the factory 10 degree setting. I don't mind checking, and maybe nudging it a bit to 12 or so, depending on how it will like the setting without pinging. Might even like 87 at 12, who knows, but no problems switching to 89 or 91 on my part. Might see a few more ponies under the hood, and better response? Thanks for the advice.

Jfsram

The zero TDC mark is well defined but the smaller graduations after that will be hard to see.

This is where an advance light will easily read any balancer.

nitrous_bob

sand it up and then chalk or white crayon. wipe off the excess gently so you dont pull it all out of the grooves

Bubba 95SN

Purchased a bottle of cheap white fingernail polish years ago. Stuff works great for timing marks. Nice thin brush inside bottle. Used to use whiteout but like the polish better.

ccdguy

hey, thanks for the advice guys. Went under the car and cleaned it off. Was able to find the 0 and 10 and 20 degree marks. It was late at night, so I did not adjust the timing yet, but was able to check it with the spout out. Looks like it was set a the factory and never, ever adjusted. It seems to be at 8 degrees , so very conservative. I will try to get it to 10-12 range and see if it likes it. Don't really want to start putting 93 in her all the time, but 89 might do with a slight bump up. Might help with low end pick up a bit, but it runs quite nice and strong as it is now at 8. Never hurts to try something new, right? Might like 10-12 even more...

Jfsram

You'll be fine with 87 octane.