Step 7: Advancing the timing.
Now that you know how to use the timing light, you’re finally ready to advance the timing. You’ll need someone to help you with this step. To physically advance the timing, you simply turn the distributor until the timing marks on the crankshaft pulley indicate the desired timing degrees on the timing tab. You first need to loosen the distributor, but before you do that, make sure the engine is off. Standing on the driver’s side of the car, the bolt you need to loosen is to the left of the distributor, illustrated in the picture below.
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Using a 12mm socket, loosen the bolt on the distributor clamp, but not too much. Right now, you just want the bolt to be snug so that you can easily loosen it and turn the distributor later. This is important because if the bolt is very tight and you try to loosen it while the engine is running, your hand could jerk upward when the bolt breaks loose and the distributor might suddenly twist. You obviously don’t want this, so break the bolt loose while the engine is off, then snug it up a bit to hold the distributor in place. Now for the fun part. Start the engine again and grab your timing light. Point the light at the timing tab and timing marks just as you did earlier. Instruct your helper to loosen the bolt on the distributor clamp just enough so that he/she can turn the distributor against light resistance. Slowly turn the distributor to the right, towards the back of the car. While your helper is turning the distributor, watch closely the white timing marks on the crankshaft pulley. You want to set the timing at 12.5 degrees, which is halfway between the 10 and 15 degree hash marks on the timing tab. But remember that the 10 degree mark is between the double hash marks, so you’ll have to set the timing mark halfway between this center point and the single mark at 15 degrees. It can be a little difficult to see this at first, so just do the best you can. As the distributor is turned, you will see the white timing marks slowly move up the scale. When you’re satisfied with the position of the marks, tell your helper to stop turning the distributor and check the timing marks again. If they’re as close as you think you’re going to get them, slowly tighten the bolt on the distributor clamp, but keep your eye on the timing marks to make sure they don’t move. It is common for the distributor to move a little bit while the bolt is being tightened, and this can throw your timing mark off. If the timing marks move, you’ll have to loosen the distributor and try again. Once you get the distributor tightened without the timing marks moving, you’re home free. With the distributor tight, check the timing one last time to make sure it’s where you want it. That’s it! You’re finally finished! Disconnect the timing light and remove the jumper from the ECU. When you remove the jumper, you will notice the engine RPMs increase. This is normal. If you want, you can turn the car off before removing the ECU jumper, but it doesn’t make any difference either way. Put the engine compartment wing cover back on, clean up your mess, and take your baby out for a spin!
The test drive.
This part made me more nervous than anything else did because it would tell me if I did anything wrong or not. I didn’t want to have to go back and change the timing again and luckily, I didn’t have to. On your first drive, you should notice that your car has better power at low RPMs, meaning slightly more torque. However, advancing the timing won’t do much for top end power.
You may pick up a little low rev transient detonation on 87 PON (Pump Octane Number) grade fuel, but it’s not enough to cause any damage. The acid test of detonation is whether or not it pings heavily under load. Lug it down to 1500 revs in fourth gear and floor it. If it doesn’t detonate you’re okay, but a little light transient pinging that goes away by 1800-2000 RPM is okay, too (Uncle Duke).
This may seem like an involved process because these instructions are so long, but I tried to explain every step as clearly and with as much detail as I could. Even if you’re not good with cars (I know I’m not), you can do this. Now that you know what to look for, the first five steps, maybe even the first six, you could probably do in twenty minutes or less. Once you start going through these instructions and identifying all the parts and processes described, everything will come together and you’ll be glad you got the experience.