Help me adjust my timing....
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 173
Likes: 0
From: St. Louis MO
Help me adjust my timing....
Ok, heres the deal. State emission inspections looks like this
HCs failed, No's extremly low. So I should be able to advance the timing a bit, drop the hc's and raise the no's..
I know where the bolt is with the prong that holds the distributor in place.
I know if i advance the timing the the RPM's will increase, and if i turn it the wrong way and retard the timing the RPM's will drop.
So I broke out my handy wrench, lossened the bolt, and well, the distribtor moved, seemed I had a tight spark plug wire. I dont know what way it moved. So I am looking at trying to set it back to base timing. Do i need to unplug the computer? I am afraid of trying to set the timing while the computer is making adjustments to fix my modification. I have a timing light, but ive never used one to time a car in the past. what do you all recommend?
HCs failed, No's extremly low. So I should be able to advance the timing a bit, drop the hc's and raise the no's..
I know where the bolt is with the prong that holds the distributor in place.
I know if i advance the timing the the RPM's will increase, and if i turn it the wrong way and retard the timing the RPM's will drop.
So I broke out my handy wrench, lossened the bolt, and well, the distribtor moved, seemed I had a tight spark plug wire. I dont know what way it moved. So I am looking at trying to set it back to base timing. Do i need to unplug the computer? I am afraid of trying to set the timing while the computer is making adjustments to fix my modification. I have a timing light, but ive never used one to time a car in the past. what do you all recommend?
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 40,156
Likes: 45
From: San Pedro CA
how do you time a car without a timing light?
you have to disconnect the wire, not doing so will cause more problems than it's worth. The wire will be down around the brake booster.
Hook the timing light up to the battery, and the big clamp thingy (inductive pickup) to the #1 plug wire. Point the light at the crank pulley/timing marks and go to town.
you have to disconnect the wire, not doing so will cause more problems than it's worth. The wire will be down around the brake booster.
Hook the timing light up to the battery, and the big clamp thingy (inductive pickup) to the #1 plug wire. Point the light at the crank pulley/timing marks and go to town.
Team Owner
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 24,460
Likes: 7
From: sw Ohio
Like Bogus said, you need a timing light. You can pick one up at just about any auto parts store for cheap. All you need is the Inductive Timing one. Sounds like you rotated the timing a few degrees, no biggie. As long as you didnt pull the distributor out.
Disconnect the EST wire, its a round plug coming out of the wiring harness near the brake booster. Follow the directions to set the timing. A bit of advice though, the inductive pickup (the clamp) isnt supposed to clamp down onto the wire, it goes through the hole in it. Sorry, the timing light I got had confusing directions.
Disconnect the EST wire, its a round plug coming out of the wiring harness near the brake booster. Follow the directions to set the timing. A bit of advice though, the inductive pickup (the clamp) isnt supposed to clamp down onto the wire, it goes through the hole in it. Sorry, the timing light I got had confusing directions.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 2,118
Likes: 0
From: St. Charles, MO Route 66 Corvette Club
Your thread does not state what year of car you have and your profile is not completed. As stated,earlier, you must OPEN the EST connector and time the car with this connector opened or apart. Make sure the timing indicator on the front of the engine block is clean where you can see the reference numbers. Hook up the light to the battery and the inductance lead must go to #1 cylinder spark plug wire. Start the engine and shoot the light at the timing indicator. The timing light will allow you will see a line on the vibration damper and this line indicates TDC or top dead center of #1 cylinder. Move the distributor cap to where the vib damper line aligns with 6 degrees on the timing indicator. Tighten the distributor hold down bolt and rechech the timing it to verify it is still set at 6 degrees. Tighting the bolt will sometimes change the timing. Shut off the engine and reconnect the EST connector. Running the engine with the EST connector open will set a fault code in the car computer. Remove the negative battery terminal from the battery for about 30 seconds. This removes the fault code in the computer. Hope this is helpful.
Last edited by Sam Lam; Sep 1, 2006 at 07:44 PM.
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Race Director
Joined: Sep 2000
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From: The Top of Utah
Originally Posted by 4Ever21
Like Bogus said, you need a timing light. You can pick one up at just about any auto parts store for cheap. All you need is the Inductive Timing one.
Originally Posted by drewber
I have a timing light, but ive never used one to time a car in the past. what do you all recommend?