I'm not having much luck trying to check the timing on my 82 LG4. There's just too much crap in the way with the water pump and air conditioning right on top of everything; no matter which angle I shine the light from, nothing gets down to the timing mark.

Is there some kind of trick to doing this? I haven't been able to locate any form of magnetic timing reader tool (not sure if that would even work anyway)

I was thinking of grabbing a cheap inductive timing strobe and breaking the thing open so I could put the strobe light at the end of a long wire and just dangle the bulb down in there.

I could tune it by ear, but I would like to know what the timing is currently set to since I'm getting at best 9 miles/gallon on a totally stock LG4 running on 93 octane. I very rarely ever hear any knocking so perhaps it wouldn't hurt to advance it a bit.

-Kevin


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1982 Pontiac Trans Am 305 LG4 4sp T-10 hardtop WS7 stock
http://www.geezernet.nu/transam
1982 Pontiac Trans Am 305 LU5 TH-200 t-top, loaded
http://www.geezernet.nu/transam/blackt

 

wait till dark. it will show better then. another thing that helps is to spin the harmonic balancer so the timing mark is pointed at the ground, then climb under the car and rub a piece of chalk into the groove. it really brightens things up.

 

I know what you mean- that was the heyday of the "emission hose" motor! Freakin' hoses and belts EVERYWHERE. You'll have to move a few out of the way to get the timing light down in there. Having an extra set of hands is very helpful.

BTW- the 305's timing marks and pointer are viewed from directly above the motor- look down between the water pump and the block and you'll see the timing marks

 

Okay.. I'll give that a try. Also I'll grab a second person to make sure the wires from the timing light don't get sucked into the fan, then perhaps I could get the light to shine down at a better angle. If all else fails, I will probably revert to the extend-o-bulb method.

 

Well, I finally got a decent timing reading. I pressure tested my a/c and there wasn't any pressure in it whatsoever, so I yanked the a/c hoses off and I could see straight down to the timing mark. Chalk definitely helped it out. Timing was right on the money, 6 degrees btdc, so I guess my terrible mileage problems are elsewhere.


-Kevin