I have a half bridge TII engine without a turbo (I don't have enough money for one...) and I finally got the thing to idle. Now I'm trying to set the timing, but when I hook up the timing light my rpms jump around from cranking rpms all the way up to 2000. I have some minor noise issues under normal operation (in data logs rpms sometimes flucuate by 50 in about a tenth of a second), but it still runs pretty smooth. I have shielded CAS wires that are properly grounded, and a capacitor on the signal to reduce noise. I would try another timing light, but don't have access to one right now. Thanks for any help.

-Andrew

 

Where is the MS grounded?

How are the engine/starter grounded?

 

The MS is grounded to the engine with 16 gauge wire and also to the stock harness (goes to the engine?). The battery is in the passenger side storage bin, and is connected to the drivers strut tower via 4 gauge wire, and from there has 4gauge wire going to the starter, and 8 gauge going to the rear of the engine by the trans where the MS and WBO2 are grounded.

-Andrew

 

Have you made sure that each of the ground points is clean. No tarnish or corrosion?

Is the MS only grounded with a single 16 ga wire? If so, that's not enough, you should have at least 3 or 4 going from the MS to the engine ground.

Ken

 

Each point was sanded and wiped with acetone before the wires were attached. And there are 4 seperate ground wires, I think the only questionable parts in my grounding system are the fact that I don't know where the stock harness grounds go to, and that I'm not the most educated about ground loops and may have one. My engine has a ground wire going to the chassis, and my starter does aswell, so I'm not sure if that makes a ground loop. Thanks for the help.

-Andrew