1964-1974 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
-- Don't know about Chris's timing light, but mine hooks up to the #1 plug wire, not the coil lead. (Shouldn't matter if the timing is close to begin with, but if it's REALLY off you could be setting it for the wrong cylinder!)
Don't know which is the #1 plug? Check the owner's manual or remove the air cleaner and look at the numbers cast into the intake manifold on the top of each runner -- they may be kinda faint but you should be able to tell which is cylinder #1. (Yeah, I could have just told him which one it is, but this is about LEARNING...)
-- Timing light needs power from the battery, but it's hard to connect it to the battery posts on a Sonett because the battery is in the trunk! Instead you can connect the timing light's black wire to any good ground on the engine, and connect the red wire to the terminal bolt sticking up out of the top/front of the starter (it's got several wires connecting to it already.) The big cable from this bolt runs straight back to the battery, so it's a good place to hook up. Just be careful of two things: (1) don't let the timing-light clamp or any of the other wires get close to any nearby metal or you'll cause a short circuit; (2) to get to this bolt you have to snake your hand around the exhaust downpipe, so don't try it while the engine is warm unless you enjoy the smell of burning flesh!
-- Tips to make the timing marks easier to see: (1) remove the Sonett's hinged engine lid first so you can stand in front of the car and look straight down at the marks; (2) highlight the marks with chalk before you start the engine so they'll stand out more clearly from the surrounding metal.
-- And since he said he was a beginner, some safety tips: (A) Don't wear loose clothing or anything dangly, and tie back your hair if it hangs down; you'll be leaning right over a lot of rotating belts and pulleys at the front of the engine and you don't want to get anything caught in that stuff; (B) the engine has to be running while you set the timing, so be super-careful about hot and moving parts such as the previously-mentioned belts and pulleys, and also the fan (which is almost invisible when turning and can take your fingers right off if you happen to put your hand in the wrong place while you're trying to see the timing marks); (C) When turning the distributor to adjust the timing, grasp it by the body or the vacuum chamber, not by the top -- otherwise if your plug wires aren't perfect you can get the 20,000v primary ignition voltage through your hand, which hurts by itself and also can make your muscles contract and bang into other parts of the car that can hurt you even worse.
The good news is that now that you've installed the Pertronix gizmo, you'll probably never have to do this again!... although it's still worth checking once a season or so if only so you won't feel you wasted the money you spent on a timing light...
PS -- Don't change the timing to set the idle speed. After you've got the timing set to spec with your light, you can get the idle speed back where it's supposed to be by adjusting the idle speed and mixture screws on the carb. A lot of us leave the idle a bit faster than it says in the book -- 1000 or 1100 rpm instead of 850-900 rpm -- because the engine runs a bit more smoothly, which reduces the strain on the timing gears in the engine, and also because that helps make sure the Sonett's wimpy 35-amp alternator is spinning fast enough to put out something!
PPS -- To set those carb screws, turn up the idle speed screw until the engine is running at a fast idle, then turn the mixture screw through its range until you find the leanest setting at which it will idle smoothly. Then turn the speed screw back until you get the correct idle speed. If the idle speed and quality don't seem to change much no matter how you turn the mixture screw, either your carb is really gunked up inside or you've got an air leak somewhere.
posted by 204.76.11...
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