[Fot] Bad Time

[Barr, Scott]

Ed Barnard and Tom Strange win the prize.

The question was, given that all of the other observations indicated
that timing was actually at 30 degrees advance, what could cause three
separate timing lights to show timing at 60 degrees advance?  The
answer:  Inductive timing lights and solid core plug wires are a lousy
combination.

While I was beavering away at work yesterday (OK, so I was mostly
emailing you people), Dad dragged the old non-inductive style timing
light off the "dusty stuff" shelf, measured and marked off 30 degrees on
the pulley and there it was.  Steady 30 degrees of advance.  And, as an
added bonus, all of the leaping flashes before and after proper timing
are gone.

Scott B.


----- Original Message -----
From: EDWARD BARNARD <edwardbarnard at prodigy.net>
To: Barr, Scott; fot at autox.team.net <fot at autox.team.net>
Sent: Mon Jun 11 10:16:31 2007
Subject: [BULK]  Re: [Fot] Bad Time

Scott: Being an electronic engineer I'll tell you a secret... if you are
using an inductive light and solid core wires you are picking up
adjacent plugs firing. I love solid core wires, but they seem to make
the more sensitive electronic add-on's react strangely. Rev limiters go
nuts, MSD's don't work right, and inductive lights pick-up adjacent
plugs. I have been using a 35+ year old timing light that hooks directly
to the plug. No stray noise pick-up. I will say that I have stopped
using solid core wires when using sensitive electronics. Thanks - Ed

"Barr, Scott" <sbarr at McCarty-Law.com> wrote:

	It was one of those "What the heck am I missing??" weekends.
Lots of
	head scratching and no racing.

	Three separate timing lights tell me that the timing on my 1296
Spitfire
	motor is at 55-57 deg advanced. I'm not typically in the habit
of
	disputing such compelling evidence, but I don't know what to
think at
	this point. The car shouldn't RUN at almost 60 degrees of
advance, let
	alone run BEST at 60 degrees of advance.

	Based on the various observations detailed below, it seems to me
that
	the timing is ACTUALLY around 30 deg of advance, while the
timing lights
	all say it's at almost 60 deg of advance. Is that possible?