Stupid Question, Need Input
 

This one is a quick question

I am going to bump/advance my timimg tomorrow or the next day. I am to cheap to buy a timing light, so I was thinking about bumping it without one. Does anyone advise against this? Has anyone done this without a light?

I don't see the point in buying a light for 15 mins of work. There is also no stores in my area that rent or lend out timimg lights.

Thanks for any help

I used to be able to tune my old Dodge by ear, but I wouldnt try to get anything dead on that way with the Mustang. Just remember 10-15 degrees goes by really fast when rotating the distributor. If your pretty sure of what point your timing is set to currently, just index the base of the distributor down to 5 degree increments. (An outside caliper and a protractor should do the trick) Or at least draw a circle of an equal diameter to the base of your distributor and get a look of how much travel the base will have when turning it a few degrees. Mabey even take a measurment of how many degrees you wish to advance / retard the timing off that circle and pre-mark the base of the distributor.

That's easy to do without a timing light. All you have to do is just blink your eyes REALLY fast until you can see the timing as it passes the point. ..............

OR you could just buy a timing light, keep the receipt, take it back when you're done for full refund. That should be no problem at all.

as long as the car runs and doesnt ping you dont need to be too exact... but like other said, make a mark on the block and the distro where it is now... then if it runs crappy, you'll know where to bring it back...
-as

Thanks for the advice guys

FritzDaKat, that is a good idea, I never thought of that. I'm going to try and do it today. Thanks again for the idea.

AHHhhhhh, I see you bought the car(I just posted in the lounge on your other thread). There should be a mark on the distributor for base timing, there's one on mine. Look for a little chisle mark. You could advance the timing without a light but the cpu is supposed to correct this unless you remove the spout, I used to do it all the time. I'd pull off on the side of the road, with my 1/2" wrench, and twist it and see what it would do. I'd add octane boost and I thought I was doing something... this was a long time ago.. heeh... HAVE FUN!!;)

It's hit and miss, but I guess you could do it by the seat of your pants. Course, my advice is to just suck it up and buy a $30 timing light. I guarantee you that there will come a time when you wish you had one.

--nathan

I actualy got around to it today. I did what FritzDaKat did with his old dodge and just listened. I had a little bit of a rough idle when I started. As I turned the distributer slightly clockwise I could here the engine smoothing out. I then turned it untell the idle went rough again and back it up a little bit.

I took the car for a drive and I could feel the difference with no detenation. I have no clue what I advanced it to but the weather were I live is pretty cold so I'm guessing it could be about 16 Degrees.

I mainly posted this last reply to help out anyone who is cheap like me and still wants to do this mod. Good Luck

That guys for your replies, they helped greatly.

Oh Brother
 

Dude, I really don't recommend this. I wouldn't want your next post to be "how do I change a head gasket?". Now that you have changed it why don't you go to a service station and have the mechanic check it. Maybe he'll be reasonable or maybe he'll do it as a favor to a loyal customer.

But definitely determine what it is.

yea its easy so do it!

go to walmart, or sears or allmost anywhere and just buy a timing light... it's like 30 bucks... you might use it once a year but it wont go bad... so it's probably worth it...
-=as=-