Timing light - dumber is better.
Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 9:46 am
I know all of you know not to use adjustable or smart timing light on wasted spark applications, but how about dizzy cars?
Last Saturday I was using customer's MAC Tools timing light on distributor setup and got a lot of timing scatter at 3000 rpm.
Lately I've started bringing my dumb Craftsman timing light ($20.00 on ebay - no knob) regardless of what the car owner says he has, and I tried it on the car. Rock steady timing with no changes to setup.
Moral of story: Find a light that works and trust no adjustable light unless you are sure it really works. Keep a dumb light as a reference and sanity check.
I've had bad results with SnapOn and MAC 'smart' timing lights when used with MegaSquirt.
Last Saturday I was using customer's MAC Tools timing light on distributor setup and got a lot of timing scatter at 3000 rpm.
Lately I've started bringing my dumb Craftsman timing light ($20.00 on ebay - no knob) regardless of what the car owner says he has, and I tried it on the car. Rock steady timing with no changes to setup.
Moral of story: Find a light that works and trust no adjustable light unless you are sure it really works. Keep a dumb light as a reference and sanity check.
I've had bad results with SnapOn and MAC 'smart' timing lights when used with MegaSquirt.