Topic: Setting Timing for Dummies
in Forum: C3 Engines
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Lifetime MemberModerator
Duncanville, TX - USA
Joined: 11/8/2003
Posts: 20214
Vette(s): #1-1974 L-48 4spd Cp Med Red Metallic/Black deluxe int w/AC/tilt/tele./p/w-p/b/
Am-Fm/map light National/Regional/Chapter NCRS "Top Flight"
#2-1985 Bright Red/Carmine Cp.L-98/auto
Member: NCRS, NCRS Texas, Corvette Legends of Texas
[QUOTE=Hmel '74]to me, it seems i have no right to even own my car at this point[/QUOTE]
Yer rite, Jeff...you should send the keys and the title down to me in Texas, and then turn in your Shark teeth. Perhaps a nice GREEN Pinto would be more suited to you....
Just kiddin...sorry for the cornfushun...
Yer rite, Jeff...you should send the keys and the title down to me in Texas, and then turn in your Shark teeth. Perhaps a nice GREEN Pinto would be more suited to you....
Just kiddin...sorry for the cornfushun...
Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56 
My Link 
(click for Texas-sized view!) NCRS
"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"
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[QUOTE=Adams' Apple]
Yer rite, Jeff...you should send the keys and the title down to me in Texas, and then turn in your Shark teeth. Perhaps a nice GREEN Pinto would be more suited to you....
[/QUOTE]
haha! i'll take it!
i figured i'd be relegated to one of those stupid little rollerskate "smart cars"
anyway, thanks for the lesson. clears up some of the mud about timing!
Hmel '74 2009-08-01 21:07:42
Yer rite, Jeff...you should send the keys and the title down to me in Texas, and then turn in your Shark teeth. Perhaps a nice GREEN Pinto would be more suited to you....
[/QUOTE]
haha! i'll take it!
i figured i'd be relegated to one of those stupid little rollerskate "smart cars"
anyway, thanks for the lesson. clears up some of the mud about timing!
Former Member
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Leavenworth, KS - USA
Joined: 1/24/2007
Posts: 426
Vette(s): MM Red 1971 T-top,LS5,4-speed, black leather C5 seats, Hooker sidepipes.
Previous: 64 Coupe, 65 Roadster L76 / N14
Lonnie (Bio11) -- Thanks for the feedback. Glad to know I'm not the only guy with this issue. OF COURSE it has power steering!!! Anything to make timing that much harder.
I had already cleaned the timing tab and marked the index mark WHITE (this isn't my first rodeo, although the toughest), but I can't even SEE the tab from up top. Wondering what the trick was or what had to be removed to make it happen.
Any other LS5 owners out there willing to share the "Secret to Timing the Big Block?" Could it be that I need to order a left-handed, oil-filled, belt-fed timing light with intuitive pick-up? My timing light is definitely an antique (used it lots back in the 70s). Probably time for a new one . . . . Mike
The trick that Joel suggested by turning the dist. CC until runs rough and then back till it smooths out really works well, I learned that trick from a drag racer when I was racing my moms 54 chevy, the car was a freek and so was I, just loved beaten flatheads and sick overheads......never heard the part about turning the key off at 3K tho, heard one kinda like that but you got to pump the gas quickley about 3 or 4 times and turn the key back on before it stopped..
.....WARNING...DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, DEATH OR INJURY MAY OCCUR!!...
anips 2009-08-06 23:00:00
.....WARNING...DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, DEATH OR INJURY MAY OCCUR!!...
Lifetime MemberModerator
Duncanville, TX - USA
Joined: 11/8/2003
Posts: 20214
Vette(s): #1-1974 L-48 4spd Cp Med Red Metallic/Black deluxe int w/AC/tilt/tele./p/w-p/b/
Am-Fm/map light National/Regional/Chapter NCRS "Top Flight"
#2-1985 Bright Red/Carmine Cp.L-98/auto
Member: NCRS, NCRS Texas, Corvette Legends of Texas
[QUOTE=F4Gary]Hey Joel, just curious, but what does shutting it off at 3000 rpm do?
[/QUOTE]
It leans out the fuel in the cylinders(which creates a high cylinder temp). Then, when you try to start it, if the timing is too advanced, it will "kick-back"...hard start. If the timing is not too far advanced, it will fire right back up. It basically gets the timing to where the engine won't "ping", or kick back when starting, when hot.
It's just another method of setting timing if ya don't have, or want to use, a timing light. It works really well...not ed zachary a hi-tech method, but it does work.
It leans out the fuel in the cylinders(which creates a high cylinder temp). Then, when you try to start it, if the timing is too advanced, it will "kick-back"...hard start. If the timing is not too far advanced, it will fire right back up. It basically gets the timing to where the engine won't "ping", or kick back when starting, when hot.
It's just another method of setting timing if ya don't have, or want to use, a timing light. It works really well...not ed zachary a hi-tech method, but it does work.
Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56
My Link
(click for Texas-sized view!) NCRS
"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"
Ladies and Gentleman may I make a suggestion relating to timing.When it was a real luxury to own a timing light of any type, we timed the engines(any kind i.e.ford Chevy any engine)with a vacuum gauge.First you would remove vacuum line from carb to canister on distributor and plug off port where it was connected,then you would reduce your throttle idle screw to the lowest RPM you can maintain (550-700rpm)idle without "killing" the engine. Once you are idling at the lower RPM connect a vacuum gauge & vacuum line to the NON metered port(YOU SHOULD HAVE TWO PORTS ONE IS METERED FOR THE VAC ADVANCE CANNISTER AND A NON METERED PORT INDICATING TOTAL VACUUMN) port on carb or better yet if you can connect to the vacuum port between carb and distributor.
Once you are at idle read the vac gauge(if 15 in.Hg or below)timing adjust (advancing counterclockwise)until you read a steady 17 in.Hg vacuum or more,18 in.Hg vacuum is great,your timing would be somewhere around 16-20 degrees advance static depending on you cam etc.Your idle will have increased, ergo you must then reduce the idle to where you were at the start of this adjustment.Check you rpm gauge and then proceed to adjust the air fuel screws in the front,first the right side jet then the left until it starts to run rough and want to die.Open until you increase the idle to about 40-50 rpm and then add a 1/8Th turn to rich-en the setting.You would want to turn in the screws, if you have a Edelbrock,Q-Jet,and out if you have a Holley or like Holley..
Then set your curb idle to you what you normally idle at then,if you have a vacuum advance and want to use it fine,however I do not use a vacuum advance, albeit it is there.
Your timing at this point,if your mechanical advance weights and springs are OK, you will have a total timing with mechanical advance inclusive of 28-36 degrees and should not ping.At this timing you can possibly use middle grade gas,albeit I would not use anything but premium grade fuel..
Hope this is a help.........By the way my Father did not give me a car,he in fact took mine away from me..Well I was a bad kind,not much better now!!!!!!!
in Forum: C3 Engines
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