I just bought an FB for $175, its really clean but the place thought its timing was bad, I know a littel bout this but whats the easiest way to fix it, or is there another problem often confused wiht timing?

 

Easiest way is to set the timing with a timing light. THe leading timing is set by loosening the timing bolt and turning the distributer, the light should come on at the yellow mark on the pulley. The traling timing is set by pulling/pushing the piece by the vac advance, the light should go on at the red mark on the main pulley.

 

does the motor have to be running to do this or should the light come on by positioning the pully then turning the dizzy?

 

Yes. The timing light fires when it detects a current (electricity makes a magnetic field) in the plug wires.

 

Its a 79 model, is anything different?

 

79's have dual points instead of an electronic ignition like later models. www.mazspeed.com in the facts section details upgrading to a newer dizzy.

 

When i went to set my timing on the trailing ignition it was way off. I loosened up on the 2 screws and it died. It took me three days to To figure out why I wasn't getting any fire anywhere. Now its running smooth at 1000rpm but the trailing is still off. Is the trailing timing crucial?

 

I believe it is, and the engine must be Idling at 750 to 800 rpm for true readings. make sure you attach a tachometer to the trailing coil. A haynes manual has a detailed description of how to do ignition timming.

 

Hey Guys,

I'm sure this has been covered before, but I cannot for the life of me find it:

Let's say that your timing marks have worn off. How do you find *exactly* where to re-mark them? On a cardomain site (methinks it's Carl's) it shows a vague marker "the pen is between the yellow and red lines here", but not exactly how to figure out where to mark it.

I'm afraid my pulley may be this way. The car is still under the tarp (we got another snowfall, so I'm not taking it off yet), so I won't know until I untarp it, but I think it'd be great to know.

Let's get some specifics in here so we can add it to the FAQ?

Jon