I have taken my car to the shop two times to set the timing and it moves again and again. Also both times the car handled diferent. I would like to set it myself. Can anyone help me from what timing gun to buy to the process of setting it corectly? I am not a mechanic so every detail counts.

Thanks in advance.

:confused:

 

Go to Sears and buy the adjustable timing light. It's about $60 or so.

To set your timing:

1. Find the vacuum advance hose from carb to your distributor, and disconnect it. Use a golf tee to plug the hose if you disconnect it from the vacuum canister on the dist.

2. Locate plug wire #1, and put the inductive part (non-technical term :D) on that wire

3. Hook up positive and negative leads (I stole positive from the tach lead by using a small alligator clip wire at the dist) Negative can be hooked up anywhere that's metal, easiest place it one of the brake lines coming out of the master cylinder.

4. Bump the engine over in small increments without actually starting, you will eventually see a groove on the harmonic balancer (large round thing that your fan is attached to) Mark this groove with something white. Some people say use a wax pencil, I have found that white-out (liquid paper) works best. Also make a note of the timing tab, usually has up to 12 degrees before and after top dead center (TDC)

5. Being careful, start up the car. Make sure the adjustable timing is set to "0" and then read the timing, where the mark is flashing on the timing tab. Your timing should be somewhere between 8 degrees and 12 degrees before TDC. To adjust it, slowly rotate the dist (by using the vacuum advance canister as a hand hold) one way or the other. If you back off, the idle will drop, if you advance, the idle will increase. You must then adjust the idle stop screw on the driver's side of the carb to keep idle the same.

Goog luck, it's actually pretty easy

 

I'm assuming you've never done this before, so don't forget to loosen the distributor clamp bolt to turn the distributor for adjustment. It seems odd that it will not hold the correct timing. Here are a few possible reasons: Your distributor clamp may be bent or just weak, which could alow it to move durring normal driving. If so, replace it. Also, your distributor advance mechanism may be binding or the springs may be worn out or possibly broken. If this is the case, you should be able to verify this with the timing light. With the engine running, watch the timing mark(turn **** on adjustable timing light if needed to keep the mark where you can see it as it advances). Rev the engine a little(3000 rpm should do the trick) and see if the timing mark returns to the same place when it drops back down to an idle. If the advance mechanism is creating problems, it will often stay partly advanced and not return to where it should.