Help with timing?

[johnathan1]

Okay, so as most of you know, I am replacing my headgasket... so my question is, how do I make sure the timing is right?? I turned the crank and set it to 0, then I lined up the cam marks. Lined up the dots on the the CPS, and put it straight in carefully, without moving it at all, and it went straight in...

Did I do this right? What should I do?

 

[GrimJack]

That's the correct method. Now start it up and put a timing light on it.

 

[johnathan1]

umm, timing light?

 

[GrimJack]

Not familiar with timing lights? They are a strobe that you connect to the number 1 plug wire, then aim at the front main pulley. Fire up the car, jumper the diag block, and adjust the CPS until you get 10-12 degrees on the main pulley at every flash of the strobe...

Sounds complex, but it's really not. Hopefully someone in the SoCal crew can lend you some experience, once you've seen it done once, you'll be able to do it in your sleep.

 

[shaeff]

a hint: use the #6 spark plug wire instead of the #1, its way easier to reach, and will give you the same results when timing.

-shaeff

 

[GrimJack]

Agreed. Remember that you can't do that on all engines, though... if in doubt, use #1.