Can I do the timing well enough to drive, without a light?

[Fox]

Hi.

 

Sorry for the newbish question, but I dont have a timing light and limited tools.

 

Thanks to a dead ignition module and not being able to find a spare, I am left having to upgrade to a ND disty and coil, obviously I will need to do the timing.

 

How can I do it well enough to get the car running and be able to drive to a service centre or something, without a timing light? Is there any other way I can do the timing at all? Sorry, just know precious little on the matter..

 

thanks,

~Fox :-\

[Numbchux]

rotate the engine by hand to the desired BTDC mark on the flywheel (been so long since I've owned an EA82 car, I couldn't tell you off the top of my head...). make a mark on the side of the distributor to mark the #1 point. pull the disty cap off, and adjust the base so the rotor is pointing at the mark.

 

 

you really can't hurt anything if it's off unless you're really beating on it (pretty hard to get detonation in an N/A car ). it'll just run badly.

 

once it's running, you can adjust it a bit just by listening to the idle. you can definitely get it to a driveable point without a light.

[bheinen74]

rescue wagon survived the trip back to iowa with just a rough guess and it ran well enough.

[ihscout54]

Leave the disty cap wired till you are ready to swap the wires, dont mix up the wires. Make sure to put the new disty in the way the old one came out. Mark a spot where the rotor was pointing and make sure the new rotor points at it. Put the body in a similar position as the old one. If you are off a tooth it doesnt take long to figure it out. Start it up, if all is well you could leave it and see if you like it there. Turning the disty body clockwise will advance the timing. While running "advance" it very slowly until you get a miss at idle, then back it off a bit till it smoothes out. If it pings while driving pull over and back it off a hair, if it still does it back it off some more... A cheap timing light might be cheaper then having a shop set your timing.

[zyewdall]

Yes. I timed mine by just listening to the engine, and it made it the couple miles back to my house up a steep hill.

[Twitch de la Brat]

You could always pull the #1 cylinder spark plug wire off and let it arc to

block.

Just do the suggested "rough estimate" made by numchux and have

someone else crank the engine and if the engine starts with the first wire

pulled, you can fine tune it with the arcing of the spark plug wire.

 

I personally have never had to do this (I always seem to have a timing light

somewhere nearby) but I know people that have.

 

Hope it works for you.

 

Twitch