timing light issues.

[nickb2]

Ok, this may sound weird, but with my mustang, I am having troubles with my timing light.

But the strange thing is, at work, we also have a old OTC timing light.

So here is my problem, the inductive pick ups on both have a hard time with the 9mm ford racing wires, but when I try a basic standard wire, they pick up.

Anybody here ever encountered this?

I was able to set timing by using a standard wire on cyl number 1. That was easy.


So question, again, is it me, or do 9mm wires have such a thick sleeve that they might sheild and cheap timing lights like ours dont pick up.

details on MY kit, very cheap equus timing kit I bought a LONG time ago. It has, or had, a vacuum gauge, dwell meter, compression tester and timing light. I will try to post a pic of the kit. The case is yellow.

The work light is a otc (which in my mind is the better one). It wont pick up on the racing wires.

If any race fans boys here have ever encountered this, cuz I am starting to get annoyed. Every time I want to do an adjustment, and see if this degree or that degree works better, I have to swap cyl 1 wire to standard napa wire, maybe 8mm ish etc blabla.


Anyway, some may call me finicky, but I just like the look of the red ford racing ones, they are also numbered so easy to see at a glance.

 

[nickb2]

So my other question is, if in fact the wires are to thick, and my mind is not crazy, what set of wires worked for you guys. Like I said, I like the LOOKS of said wires, but that is just looks. They feel thick and sturdy, but I can always try a set of racing wires from rock auto.

The wires I got look like this summit thing

Ford Performance Parts M-12259-R301 Ford Performance Parts Spark Plug Wire Sets | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - Ford Performance Parts Spark Plug Wire Sets with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Spark Plug Wire Sets at Summit Racing.

www.summitracing.com

The ones I saw on rock auto look much thinner but that is probably an optical illusion.

But the 9.0mm racing ones have some nice feature.

Ok, laughing at my self, maybe I should start a new thread on what are good racing wires for heat and such. the rock auto kit is more expensive, but has wraps for those close places where the wires almost contact headers. I like that option,

But pretty dang expensive, twice the price of the summit kit I got.

1994 FORD MUSTANG 5.0L V8 Spark Plug Wire | RockAuto

RockAuto ships auto parts and body parts from over 300 manufacturers to customers' doors worldwide, all at warehouse prices. Easy to use parts catalog.

www.rockauto.com

 

[nickb2]

At this point of this post, I may sound anecdotal, (yes, I actually know that word )

But I ran my old 84 gt with exact same wires I had bought at the local ford shop up in quebec city, but for the life of me cant remember what brand of light I was using, I had hair back then. hink winks etc.

They worked fine and did real good pulls with those wires, never had a hitch.

So, just in case, I want to avoid any nonsense here and tell you all, the dwell meter also does not read #1 wire, there is a tach option for that.

My bluepoint inductive pick up reads fine for rpm etc, but cant time with it. Its just a multimeter.

Am I missing something, or just fussing over old equipment, and maybe both lights are just to old and have lost magnet etc capabilities.

My greek gf laughs at me, cuz she doesnt understand why this is pissing me off, and she says, just leave the grey canadian napa wire there to do timing. And in my mind, she makes sense, but I dont like the look of a nice set of wires with a grey one in the mix.

Like I said, I am finicky.

 

[nickb2]

Oh, and yes, I will feild all answers from smart ppl like Bill and Grc and such, yes I have tried using different wires of same set, same result, also used new set of plugs, same result, but those needed changing anyway.

Car has a new dizzy as billr likes to call them,

So, what in the heavens is happening. My limited brain has only come up with one solution.

I revert to sherlock homes theory, when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?

Could both timing lights be so old the pick ups dont read right like a old crank sensor, and all along I need a new timing light. IDK.

So now I am looking at new timing lights, cuz I am going all in this 5.0l and I will probably have to time it at drag strip whilst adjusting odds and ends.

Alot of guys say they pull alright @10, I think this one has a cam in it, it pulls good 13ish. and sometimes more.

And since I will most likely mega squirt it or go with a holley terminator x , I still want the ability to time it on the fly so to say.

I am kind of almost most assuredly going with the mega kit that Billr has great succes on with his old vette. His son has it now. Awesome gift to son. Nods to Billr on that one. The only car my dad ever gave me was a old dodge shadow auto 2.5l. I yawned my way through that one. Dad is not a race boy. I beat the shyte out of it cuz it was just way to clunky and not worth anytime on it. The grave yard gave me 75$ for it.

 

[billr]

Where do I start?

For a timing light, I always recommend a simple, non dial-back, light. Less confusing to use, and many folks on the MS forum have reported sensing problems when using a dial-back on wasted-spark. I know, you don't have wasted-spark (but should...); but if the dial-back is fussy, why bother? Once you get past using a single-coil and dizzy, the dial-back feature is of no value. And you will not use the light for tuning anyway. You will change the spark curve with a few keystrokes on your computer! Do the inductive clamps on those lights you are using close completely and easily over the 9mm wire? Even a few thousandths inch of daylight between the tips of the jaws may be enough to make sensing the spark difficult. If there is any doubt about the jaws closing, use a cable-tie or tape to hold them definitely tight; see if that helps.

I doubt the fatterwire insulation can have any effect, other than physically holding the jaws open. I don't have any of the last wires I was using, but I think they were Accel 300+ and either 8.8mm or 10.8mm. They were spiral-core for EMI suppression. If the Ford wires have a shielding layer of any kind (along with spiral core), then that could be a problem.

As long as you stick with a dizzy, pretty much any plug wires are going to be OK. The limiting factor will be dwell-time of the single coil. sound familiar? I won't mention it again.

The Corvette did not go to one of my sons. It went to a guy in my "extended family" of about the same age of my oldest son. None of my sons was really interested in it. Will GF no longer let you contact me directly, after that last PM???

 

[nickb2]

If there is any doubt about the jaws closing, use a cable-tie or tape to hold them definitely tight; see if that helps.

Thx bill, had not thought of that. Yeah, both light kits have a very tight fit around red wires.

yellow chrome kit is non dial back, otc black kit is dial back, FYI.

It went to a guy in my "extended family"

Ah, yes, I remember, I hope he is having fun with it. Sounds like a solid boy.

other than physically holding the jaws open

Agree, will try tie raps and post back. Geeze, why didnt I think of that. Anywho, take care, happy holidays.

 

[nickb2]