Timing strobe/light/gun etc

[daverclasper]

Hi. Used to one of these back in the day , when I prob didn't one. Not sure if i need one now, as car runs well .

I set timing static, if need be, then adjust for advance/retard by any pinking.

I guess, I would like to go for a  luxury environment,  "what's happening at different revs with the timing". Any improvement on performance and fuel consumption (good on runs, but half that driving around the city ).

Is it worth me buying one for this scenario?. If so, are new cheap one's any use for occasional use, or better to look for used (budget, around £15).

Any help great, thanks. Dave    

[Pete Lewis]

Any can be useful, what you are doing is the best way,  having a strobe can show up erratic timimg , floating about

But unless you have the dizzy test data checking up the rev range is not easy,  much dizzy  data is quoted as decelerating 

So what you can check and actually find can be very misleading 

In the end Its what youre happy with

On warranty  we could test distributors on professional rig and results were inconclusive, in the end we never bothered, 

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

12 hours ago, daverclasper said:

Is it worth me buying one for this scenario?. If so, are new cheap one's any use for occasional use, or better to look for used (budget, around £15).

Any help great, thanks. Dave    

I think mine's a Gunson, I've had it for years and just check the timing every so often while the engine's idling. The added features on some such as rev indicators never seem to correlate to what is happening at the engine, so they're a waste of money if you have to pay extra for them. You'll find them for less than £20 on eBay, and it'll be perfect for just the occasional check to see if things are running correctly.

[muddypaws]

14 hours ago, daverclasper said:

Hi. Used to one of these back in the day , when I prob didn't one. Not sure if i need one now, as car runs well .

I set timing static, if need be, then adjust for advance/retard by any pinking.

I guess, I would like to go for a  luxury environment,  "what's happening at different revs with the timing". Any improvement on performance and fuel consumption (good on runs, but half that driving around the city ).

Is it worth me buying one for this scenario?. If so, are new cheap one's any use for occasional use, or better to look for used (budget, around £15).

Any help great, thanks. Dave    

You know you can never have too many tools!

I think its better to get a second hand good quality item though - think mine was £40 but its buried in the garage somewhere.

[JohnD]

The prat-trap with many guns is the advance adjust on them.  This is for engines that do not have a scale on the pulley, you set it and then coincide the markers.

But if you do have a scale, and do not ensure that the adjust is set to zero, then you can set the advance to scale PLUS gun adjust!      I have secured my gun's adjust to zero with gaffer tape, as it's happened more than once!

John

[Anglefire]

Got that tee-shirt John 

I have the Gunson one - I actually don't like it - can't really put my finger on it, except to say that I found the twiddle dial a pain - and didn't seem that accurate or consistent. 

I do fancy the really posh ones from the US - but they are a lot of ££.  Trouble is, I like gadgets. ?

[Ian Foster]

I have had mu Gunson one for over 40 years. Just as simple gun with no adjustments, which is fine on the GT6 with its graduated crank pulley. It does show whether the distributor is advancing with revs, which is something that a static time only cannot.

I would recommend however that to confirm that your crank pulley is accurate ref TDC, which can be done using a piston stop. Mine is about 1-2 degrees out (found out when I was checking valve timing... which was spot on by the way and reassuring after an engine rebuild by others)

I also picked up a dwell/rev meter at Beaulieu AJ a few years ago which is also useful as a' second opinion' on revs.

PS has anyone had experience of setting points using a dwell meter?

Ian

[Anglefire]

I have a dwell meter - must be 30odd years old - and it works well - I tend to set the points using feelers and then check with the dwell to confirm it. Its is how I found one issue earlier in the year when it wouldn't rev - I forgot to set the points and the dwell was a near to nowt as you could get so not enough time for the coil to charge up ?

[NonMember]

I've got a strobe light with advance knob, which incorporates a rev counter and a dwell meter. It was given to me as a leaving present from my first job, almost thirty years ago. It still works fine on all counts, despite being a Halfords brand ?

Like Mark, I find the dwell meter very useful for checking that the feelers have given the desired result. This was especially true when I owned a Stag, with the two sets of points, although it also proved that wear in that distributor meant the points were no longer an acceptable method of ignition - one of the two occasions I've fitted a Lumenition to cure a serious ignition issue.

[Ian Foster]

Thanks chaps

Gives me something to dwell on.

Ian F

[dougbgt6]

Groan!

db