> 1) I made my own wire from the -ve coil terminal to the movable points arm
> that is WAY thicker than the super skinny stuff that is usually
> there. Will
> this be OK? The other one on the timing plate is also regular 12
> or 16 gauge
> wire. Won't the 2 fat wires stop the plate from moving properly? The car
> rev's to 4K with no miss.
Yes, the thicker wires will interfere with the vacuum advance operation.
Won't cause a miss, but may cause poor fuel mileage (if the advance is
prevented from advancing) and/or pinging (if the advance is prevented from
retarding). In addition, the wires will eventually break internally from
the constant flexing, which can cause very puzzling "won't run" or
intermittent problems.
> 2) The VTR site has a slightly different method which causes 8 degrees of
> advance
> http://www.vtr.org/maintain/Setting-the-Ignition-Timing-on-a-TR.pdf .
> Shall I revise and use the VTR method now I'm Mr. Maintenance Guy?
My suggestion would be to start with 4, and then use the "road test" method
outlined in the factory manual to advance it from there. The optimum timing
depends on a lot of factors that may vary from car to car (or even season to
season).
> 3) Why can't I use a timing light?
The centrifugal advance curve starts at below idle rpm, and the advance
mechanism is not terribly accurate. You _can_ use a timing light, but it's
not as accurate or repeatable, because of the centrifugal advance.
> I hope these questions help other people!
Nah, they'll have forgotten by next month. And apparently the archives are
"hit n miss" (mostly miss from what I've seen).
Randall
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