Spark/Ignition timing 81 FI question

[BurbankJalopy]

Hello
I'm trying to time (with a timing light) my 81 Fuel Injected Spider. All the car has is a notch on the crank pulley, and a tab near the timing belt cover. The problem is that the tab has just 3 points, and no numbers to refer to. How do I know where 10degrees is on a setup like this? I know the fundamentals of using the light etc, I just don't know how to read the tab with 3 points on it and derive 10degrees. Thanks a lot.

[nibbes123]

Hi the three lines on the cover are big TDC, middle 5, small 10 hope this helps.

[rlux4]

Our timing indicators aren't on the pulley cover on the 2 litres, it's a metal tab with the three points on it. The largest (on the right, facing the engine) is TDC, the middle is 5° btdc, and the one on the left is 10° btdc. You should also have a round hole in this tab, the center of it is lined up with 10° btdc, and the notch in the pulley is easier to see through this hole.
The hard part is getting the light to where it needs to be around the radiator hoses. Good luck, let us know if this helps, and if you need anything else.
Ron

[BurbankJalopy]

Hi
Thanks for the help. However, I cannot get the timing right. The car runs best when the mark on the crank pulley (a notch) is about 20degrees before being anywhere near the timing tab. When I rotate the dist and get the notch lined up with the timing tab the car has about 5 horsepower, loud exhaust and overheats. Any ideas of why I can't get it to run well with the crank notch near the timing tab? In case these things have anything to do with it; I've got the timing light on spark plug wire 1. I'm using the bat terminal of the coil and grounded to chassis to power the light. I have a cheap Harbor Freight timing light with adjustability (set at zero, but could be a faulty light I suppose). My vacuum advance diaphragm is bad but is in the relaxed (no vacuum) position. There is no mark on the outer lips of the pulley, just the notch that is in plane for the hole in the tab. Engine was warmed up. The mechanical advance unit seemed to be moving freely. I was wearing shorts and a tshirt while working on the car. The reason to adjust timing was no particular repair, just wanted optimum performance. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

[So Cal Mark]

I'd suggest you turn the engine to tdc and see where the timing marks line up.

[Kevin1]

Connect the light to the #4 spark plug (closest to the firewall).

[Daniel]

The Timing Marks are on the Cam Towers for the Cams if you look inside the Cam Pulleys you'll see
a hole in each one, those are suppose to line up with the Pointers on the Cam tower closest to the pulley .

Sometimes the belt isnt installed correct if it's off by 1 tooth it will run with timing adjustment but
not as well as it should .


Daniel

[lanciahf]

This happened to me once when I mistimed the cams when replacing the timing belt. I was off a tooth and the car would only run with 20 to 25 degrees advance. Change the belt lately?

[ga.spyder]

You should always wear long pants,not shorts when timing a afuel injected car I recently had mine timed to the wrong mark.Instead of running +12 , I had it set at +2 degrees.Racydave caught the miscue and we set it right.Not hard to get it wrong.
Craig