Ignition Timing

[Anonymous]

Ok,

Today I decided just for once to forget that my car is rusting to nothingness and have a peek under the bonnet. Recently I had been getting quite poor mpg (probably due to that ?25 full magnex system that I found in a scrappie). I had been told that buying a timing light and reading the section on timing in the haynes would be beneficial.

Went out, bought timing light, did the stuff by the book and I have these problems:

1. Where do you have to look from to gauge that the timing mark matches the notch on the pulley at the bottom off the engine. (1.3) I assumed that it was directly overhead and tuned it accordingly - is this correct?

2. When I connected the timing light to cylinders 1,2 and 4 the timing mark matched the notch exactly, but when I rigged cylinder 3 up, there was no notch to be found.

3. The haynes explanation for doing the timing isn't too good, can anyone direct me to a good description?

Toby

[Anonymous]

hmm retry number 3 u may have had sum sort ov faulty connection. does the engine run smoothly? could be problem with a the lead or dizzy cap etc etc

im not sure exactally where your suposesd to look but i normally just look from above but slightly forward towards the car "u havent actually got that much room to move about anyways unles you want to look from underneath

[Anonymous]

there is a small spike coming out of the engine at the front about 2o'clock fron the pully. Stick some tipex on the notch and the spike so the show up better in the light. The white mark is best just before the spike so that it is slightly advanced. This is what mine is like and it goes 120mph

[Anonymous]

there is a small spike coming out of the engine at the front about 2o'clock fron the pully. Stick some tipex on the notch and the spike so the show up better in the light. The white mark is best just before the spike so that it is slightly advanced. This is what mine is like and it goes 120mph. Put the timing light on the first cylinder and take the small vacuum pipe on the distributor off and make sure your engine i upto temperature

[Anonymous]

Can't help thinking Ur maybe diving in and fixing something that ain't broke. There are loads of things that maybe the cause of poor consumption starting off with a rusted and leaking petrol tank for example. Have you tried the easy stuff like fuel lines, plugs, leads, air filters etc?

[Anonymous]

out of interest.
how much did u pay for the timing light and where from?

[Anonymous]

Timing light was 30 quid from halfords. I imagine I will use it on all of my future second hand cars, so I think its a good investment.

Ive checked the fuel lines, changed spark plugs etc. The only thing that I know that isnt any good is the Pierburg Carb.