Timing lights?

[ben711200]

This is going to be a rubbish thread, so I apologise in advance.. I'm recommissioning Becky's Fiesta and I'm using it as an excuse to stock up my toolbox.. So far I've reset the timing by ear. It's running fine now but I know perfectly well that my ears are less accurate than a clever strobe thingy.

What I want to know though, is how one can cost 20 quid and some can cost upward of a hundred? Remembering that I want to do nothing more complex than set the timing on a Fiesta (and my Volvo), and I'm made of skintness, will a cheap one be up to the job?

Cheers

Ben

[scaryoldcortina]

expensive ones have more features (like advance/revcounter/dwell etc) are sturdier built and also tend to be brighter and easier to see. you will get away fine with a cheapie, but don't buy the one that uses the spark HT to drive the bulb, they are useless.

[steveo3002]

cheap ones don't have advance or any features...and a poor bulb thats barely visable

as you spend more the bulb gets brighter . and they have a dial so you can dial in x amount of advance , plus rev counter readouts and all sorts really

[jrevillug]

Any Xenon one will be fine. Avoid the Neon ones that plug in in series with the plug lead - as Scary said, they're useless (you can just about use them at night, but not during the day).

To make it easier to see the timing marks, put a blob of white paint or tippex on the bits that need to line up. On an expensive timing light with adjustable advance you would line up the TDC marks, but with a cheapy you need to makr the point where the timing should be (eg on the Imp I've a blob of paint at 6 degrees advance, since that's the book figure at 1000rpm).

A rev counter and dwell meter are nice to have - the dwell meter for setting the points, and the rev counter to make sure you're setting the timing to the right point - but not essential.

With a timing light you can also disgnose all sorts of interesting things - testing vacuum advance, the centrifugal advance, and the dizzy for wear (if the timing marks weaves about at a fixed speed, the dizzy shaft is probably worn and precessing around it's bearing, varying the points gap).

[PhilA]

Had a Gunson Supastrobe for a while now- picked it up for sale when they brought out the "Pro" version. It's pretty good, got a nice bright-white Xenon light, triggers with an induction-driven clippy thing over no.1 ht lead (no plugging it directly off the HT feed, this proves a shocking experience in the wet and when the leads get old- one reason I replaced this from the old Neon job I had before) and has a dial to set the timing so you just line up the TDC mark- useful on engines that aren't calibrated other than TDC on the crank or are calibrated at 0/5/10/15 when the timing is supposed to be at 7 or something that's not marked specifically.
It's proven tough too, it's been dropped once or twice and the nose has been in contact with metal and plastic fan blades and it still runs accurately.

Only downside is you really really can't drop the inductance pick-up (it breaks the ferrite core rendering it useless and they aren't cheap to replace) but most that use them unplug the wires so you don't have to buy it all. That and being in a cast ally case it's a) kinda heavy and b) can be used to short electrics out by accident.

Beyond that it's done good service for forty-five quid several years back. I just bought a cheap vacuum gauge and a small tacho from the local motor place and hook them up in the engine bay when setting things up- useful to get the engine speed right and see what the vacuum's doing in relation to the timing.

--Phil

[BenzBoy]

Mar 10, 2010 21:30:50 GMT ben711200 said:

This is going to be a rubbish thread, so I apologise in advance..

No need to apologise, I've been meaning to add a timing light to my tool arsenal for a while. Very useful thread!

[eightsix]

I was looking at a timing light a while back - its on my list of things to buy. I found that the selection available in the UK was limited to either expensive Snap on or cheaper Gunson.

Looking online came up with a US brand called Equus. The do the 5568 Pro-Timing Light all the bells and whistles and around £80 landed in the UK. From what I understand its basically the same unit Snap On sell just alot cheaper.

If your interested Ben maybe we could go halves on the shipping costs or something?

[ben711200]

Mar 11, 2010 11:52:40 GMT eightsix said:

I was looking at a timing light a while back - its on my list of things to buy. I found that the selection available in the UK was limited to either expensive Snap on or cheaper Gunson.

Looking online came up with a US brand called Equus. The do the 5568 Pro-Timing Light all the bells and whistles and around £80 landed in the UK. From what I understand its basically the same unit Snap On sell just alot cheaper.

If your interested Ben maybe we could go halves on the shipping costs or something?

I'm looking to use something in the next few days but I'd be very interested in that, James so I'll probably borrow from a mate initially.. I like the sound of bells and whistles even if I don't know how to ring and blow them yet ;D

[steveo3002]

Mar 11, 2010 11:52:40 GMT eightsix said:

I was looking at a timing light a while back - its on my list of things to buy. I found that the selection available in the UK was limited to either expensive Snap on or cheaper Gunson.

Looking online came up with a US brand called Equus. The do the 5568 Pro-Timing Light all the bells and whistles and around £80 landed in the UK. From what I understand its basically the same unit Snap On sell just alot cheaper.

If your interested Ben maybe we could go halves on the shipping costs or something?

i got that one ..picked it up on holiday , its very nice

who said its same as a snap on?

[ezzysi]

I got a bluepoint one (snap-on) from ebay a while back, as new for £30.
Keep an eye on ebay for the occasional bargain inbetween all the expensive tat. !

[spiny]

I have an old old Gunson one I got at a car boot for a fiver. it has a 12v feed, but uses the old 'clip the lead to the sparkplug then clip the HT lead on top of that' fitting rather than the fancy dan induction think you cool kids use these days.

It's been working a treat on my MG this week, though I have no idea what I'm doing