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I am going to do a thorough run at adjusting the valves and setting the ignition timing today.

With respect to the ignition timing...Reading the manual leads me to believe the following...

-Engine should be warmed up and idling at 500 RPM

-Vacuum advance pipe disconnected at the base of the carburetor

-Timing should be set to 7 degrees of advance.

Does one then also check the timing at higher engine speed and if so what should the timing max mechanical advance be at 2000 RPM (6 initial plus 9 mechanical = 15 total)?


I can see the vacuum advance is moving so my guess is that it is OK however is there a procedure to check to ensure that it is applying sufficient vacuum advance at low engine loads?

My timing light is designed for 12V cars and it does work however the light is not very bright.

Any advice or tips is greatly appreciated!!!

When using a 12-volt timing light to time a 6-volt car I just power it from my 6-volt trickle charger which has more than enough oomph to power the light (though I don't know if a battery tender would) - this works very well.

I'd suggest you set your initial timing to about 6? before TDC and tweak from there if necessary, depending on fuel being used and compression ratio changes that might have occurred.

>When using a 12-volt timing light to time a 6-volt car I just power it from my 6-volt trickle charger which has more than enough oomph to power the light (though I don't know if a battery tender would) - this works very well.

At first I thought that the timing light would need to have a circuit between the car battery and the sensor of the #1 spark plug for the timing light to flash however I discovered yesterday that if I used my 12V battery charger and connected it up directly to the leads of the timing gun that it would work as usual. It has a clip on type sensor so I guess that it does not need to complete the circuit...it only needs 12V power from the red and black leads and then the sensor looks for static electricity passing through the #1 spark plug wire.

Right, but note my error, I power the light from a 12-volt battery trickle charger!

Thanks Owen... yes a charger connected to the timing light works great..