I wan't to get a timing light. Is there any difference between a $20 one and a $100 one?

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1987 Iroc 350
GTS headlight/tail light covers
Camaro SS Wheels w/Sumitomo HTR ZII 275 rear, 255's in front
K&N filters
Adjustable Borla cat back
Large tube runners
ported plenum
Holley afpr
SLP 1 3/4" headders (not installed yet)
FUTURE GOAL:
To go really F'in fast!!!

Some pics of it at
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/Album...949&Auth=false

 

Don't know the difference. But I use an old piece of crap timing light I've had in the garage for about 12 years and it still works great. It cost my dad $20. Just get the cheap one.

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91 Formula
305 TPI 5speed
1LE/G92/WS6
Custom cold air intake w/K&N, SLP airfoil, ported plenum, TB coolant bypass,Crane AFPR (47psi),94 octane,Crane Extruded Alum. 1.6 full roller rockers, Timing set from 4*BTDC to 10*BTDC,MSD6AL, Holley 9mm Annihilator Laser shot 50 wires, Ac Delco cap,rotor and plugs, Bosch O2sensor, SLP 1 5/8 headers,SLP catback,3:73s,JET 195* fan switch, Macewen white face gauges, Intellitronix Digital Gauges

Stock throttle body, runners,intake manifold,cam, and heads.

 

It depends on what you want from your timing light.

Most $20 dollar ones you have to read the timing off of the timing tab. This can get a little hard if there is not much room, the tab is dirty, or it is rusted.

The more expensive ones have a dial on the end of the gun. All youhave to do is line the timing mark up with the 0 on the tab (usually the biggest indent on the tab) and read the number on the dial. This is where your timing is set at. You can also adjust the **** on the gun to where you want the timing, point the gun at the tab, and just advance or retard the timing to the zero mark.

I have used both, and the one with the **** has bigger increments of adjusting and is a lot easier to read and use.



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Sportsman II 72 CC heads, Pete Jackson gear drive, Performance Resources chip, Edelbrock 1 5/8" headers and Edelbrock cat back exhaust, hi-flow cats, Trans-go stage 3 shift kit, Vigilante 9.5" 2800 stall convertor, SLP cold air induction, SLP roller camshaft, 24lb ADS injectors, AFPR, 3.45 rear end gears, and other goodies...


raven.com

 

There are different types of $20 lights out there, but I would definately recommend getting a Xenon inductive pickup type. The ones that go in series with the spark plug and wire are definitely much harder to use.

The self-powered ones out there are kind of neat, but probably beyond what you need. They're handy at the track, but if you don't check your timing between rounds, are overkill. The dial type are particularly handy when you're trying to set a mechanical advance distributor total timing, but again probably beyond what you need.

I had a $15 JC Whitney inductive, clip-onto-battery-posts type light that I got in the late '70's and used on many, many vehicles. The power wires got into it with the AC pulley on the Camaro last year - the pulley won (note - a self-powered light would not have had this problem). A couple of months later a co-worker was cleaning out his basement and gave me his discount-parts store light, still in the cheap plastic case (all his vehicles have distributorless ignition now). It works just fine.

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82 Berlinetta, orig V-6 car, now w/86 LG4/TH700R. 2.73 unlimited slip. Cat-back from '91 GTA, Accel HEI SuperCoil. AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Daily driver, work-in-progress (LB9 w/ZZ3 cam, TBD heads, exhaust, paint, etc.).
57 Bel Air, my 1st car. 0.030 over 396, Weiand Action+, Edelbrock 1901 Q-Jet, Jacobs Omnipack, 1-3/4" headers, TH400 w/TCI Sat Night Special conv & shift kit, 3.08 10-bolt, AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Best 15.1 @ 5800' Bandimere. Daily driver while Camaro was being put together.

 

well, im bringing up a very dead horse... but hey... i used the search!!! i had to read tons of crap, but i finaly found it... i want to know, now is 3 years later... what exactly do i need for a basic timing light... can i just get a $20 off ebay and be done? Is there quality problems? should i get a snap on one for 150 and be happy? anything i should look for?... thank you.

 

i bought a craftsman from sears for about 80 bucks. inductive with advance timing ****. seems like good quality so it should last especially since it's not somethin i'll use a lot.

 

go to autozone and buy a cheap timing light with or without a **** they both work fine. i got one with out and dont have any problems setting my timing.