How do you see the timing marks (1 Viewer)

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Huntington Beach, CA
I have read all the threads and tried all the tricks, including an inspection mirror, but I can not see the timing marks with the timing light. Easy enough to line them up with engine off by rotating the crank with a wrench... impossible for me to see the timing mark with a timing light when the engine is running.

I was wondering if anyone had painted a dot on the fan (or any other rotating part), added a sight wire and tried to time (after lining up the timing marks of course).

I've had my head down in the motor, under the motor, in front of the motor, with mirrors and even tried opera glasses, telephoto camera lens, in daylight and at night.... but I cannot see the timing mark with the timing light.

I admit to being over 50 and needing reading glasses but how in the hell do you guys time your rigs?

Any help or suggestions, especially pictures showing your setup, would be greatly appreciated.

Plus... is it reasonable that, after lining up the timing mark, one could mark the fan or one of the pulleys and add a sight wire or other type system to line up your eyes with the mark and then use this to time the beast?
 
Can you find the tick mark on the pulley? If so, try marking that with a very bright colored paint marker. This helped me a lot recently when i was adjusting the timing on my 80.
 
Which pulley? I can see the timing mark and TDC on the fly wheel through the sight window with engine off... but I can not get an angle with my timing light when its running. Are you saying there is a mark on the crank shaft pulley? I have a 3FE in a FJ62.
 
lotta folks mark the timing marks with chalk or reflective paint (if you can find them turning the engine over by hand)


works like a charm
 
Which pulley? I can see the timing mark and TDC on the fly wheel through the sight window with engine off... but I can not get an angle with my timing light when its running. Are you saying there is a mark on the crank shaft pulley? I have a 3FE in a FJ62.

Flywheel, that is what i meant by pulley, yes. Whichever has the tick mark on it.

My cheapo timing light you can change the angle of the beam by about 90 degrees. But even without doing that or angling it directly at the marks i can usually still see it.
 
I have read all the threads and tried all the tricks, including an inspection mirror, but I can not see the timing marks with the timing light. Easy enough to line them up with engine off by rotating the crank with a wrench... impossible for me to see the timing mark with a timing light when the engine is running.

I was wondering if anyone had painted a dot on the fan (or any other rotating part), added a sight wire and tried to time (after lining up the timing marks of course).

I've had my head down in the motor, under the motor, in front of the motor, with mirrors and even tried opera glasses, telephoto camera lens, in daylight and at night.... but I cannot see the timing mark with the timing light.

I admit to being over 50 and needing reading glasses but how in the hell do you guys time your rigs?

Any help or suggestions, especially pictures showing your setup, would be greatly appreciated.

Plus... is it reasonable that, after lining up the timing mark, one could mark the fan or one of the pulleys and add a sight wire or other type system to line up your eyes with the mark and then use this to time the beast?


1. Your timing light is broken
2. You don't have the sensor clip attached to the #1 spark plug
3. You need to get up in that mutha and look better
4. Get some binoculars
5. Mark the line and the bb with a white paint pen.
6. Someone has played a bad joke on you and managed to set the flywheel on wrong.

If none of this works for you there is no hope.
 
Crawl under your truck and remove the flywheel inspection cover. Turn the flywheel until you see the timing mark. Clean and paint it.
 
I recently had the issue with the timing light hookup being on the wrong wire. I was working on a 3-cylinder, so I was out of my cruiser element. I ccratched my head a bit because I couldn't see anything, then changed the hookup, and VOILA! Timing marks!

On the cruiser, I hit the bb with a dab of white grease pen. Worked well.
 
Do you have your Vac Advance unplugged when you're trying to use the timing light? If not, unplug and then try.

The line for TDC is a pain in the but if you won't mark it with something. The mark you're looking for when you time the engine is a dimple in the flywheel and is much easier to spot. The two marks are fairly close together. Find the dimple then find the timing mark for TDC. Use a bright color to paint the mark.

If you're you're just trying to get your advance correct try unplugging that vac advance if you haven't done so already.
 
Its the line of sight I can't figure out. I can see the marks on the flywheel through the sight hole when I turn the crank with a wrench. Timing light is fine (it works on my '73 Chevy) and I'm on No. 1. So the question is the line of sight. From beneath with a mirror, straight on through all the hoses, from the top with a mirror - nothing works for me.

Think what I'm going to do is line it up and then find a place to mark it with paint on one of the pulleys and a corresponding stationary point as the sight mark.

It that doesn't work then I'll follow Trollholes conclusion of no hope.
 
HBFJ62,

When you find the mark you should mark it with something like a silver sharpie. Using the inspection plate underneath the car is the easiest way to find it, but I had my head off and all sort of stuff out of my way so I did it through the timing hole.

As for line of sight, I stood about where the passenger head light is and leaned over the fender. Try to get the timing light under all the vac lines and distributor. It's a bit tricky with all the stuff on that side of the engine, but it's doable. I wouldn't try to do it from under the rig.
 
The timing mark is a head scratcher for me. I still wonder why it wasn't made differently. It would appear that somebody thought the BB was fragile or vulnerable and should be hidden from view in a safe place. Weird.
 
Yea I must have spin the engine around about 4 times before I found it myself. It's not a very deep groove or anything really obvious.

I learned how to use a timing light on a 1987 VW Jetta. Volkswagen did a couple of things right back then and one of them was the timing marks. VW put a nice sized notch in the flywheel that you couldn't miss.
 
It can be a real PITA. I usually lock the trigger of my timing light with a zip tie and wedge the thing into the vacuum lines pointed at the inspection opening. It is still difficult to see sometimes. The 22R and 3VZE have timing marks on the harmonic balancer and timing is a piece of cake. They wanted to be difficult with the cruiser...
 
Paint the line and BB as others suggest, then take a morning and visit a number of yard/garage sales there in Orange County. Look for one that has a lot of baby items, and you should find a remote video baby monitor. Some of them have very small cameras that you can tape or some how attach to your timing light. Then set the monitor in a easy to see spot and set the timing.

Even new, some of those cameras only cost about $60 or so. You’ll find a dozen more uses for it once you put it in you tool chest.

Jerry D.
 
In answer to the question asked... yes, you can put a mark somewhere else that you can see easier

I often put a dab of paint on the edge of the crank pulley and one on the timing cover to match up with it. Just pick a spot where you can get a good look at it and steal the wife's least favorite bottle of nail polish for about 30 seconds. :)

The FJ62 is a bear to position the timing light to shine on the timing mark while still leaving room to actually see it. Of course this engine is also awkward to do that with a mark on the cranky pulley to. but it is a little easier that way.


Mark...
 
This might help. It's not the most accurate method but my brother and I pulled out the #1 plug And guesstimated TDC and took a center punch and put a divot on the crank pulley at the bottom so I can reference it with the bolt head that is right below it. matt
 

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