Need a new timing light

[Tobra]

So my 40 year old Sun Timing light finally quit. Need a new timing light, what is the consensus on what to get?

I was thinking go to Sears and get the Craftsman. Needless to say, it has been a bit of time since I shopped for a timing light. Any groovy new features or things to watch out for?

[john70t]

Haven't shopped lately, but the ones with digital advance are only a few buck more and let you program "+5deg" to flash at TDC on the wheel when the advance is 5deg.
Nice feature. No hunting around for marks somewhere off the cover.

[Zeke]

Well, you know the Sears unit is made in China, so why not cut to the chase and buy one at HF?

Have you looked on Summit Racing or Jeg's just to see what's out there?

[911boost]

I have a couple of old school ones lying around....

Bill

[Tobra]

maybe snap on, I literally have not even looked yet, would prefer non-Chinese

the one I had was made in the USA

[GH85Carrera]

40 years ago most products were made in the USA.

I have one hanging on my wall. It is probably as old as yours. I used to use it all the time on my 914. I bought it to work on my first car, a 1960 VW bug.

Our local Porsche dealer will actually work on older Porsches. They have one mechanic working there that is factory trained in all the 911s. One of our members took his 911 SC in and not one mechanic had a timing light. The owner had to go back home and bring his in just so they could work on his car.

The only time I use my timing light is if I pull the distributor on my El Camino. I have not done that in many years.

[TimT]

Year or so ago my home timing light failed... Was going by Autozone looked around and didn't see any timing lights... So I asked the counter guy if they had any timing lights....

It was like a deer in the headlights....

Waited until Monday and flagged down the Snap-on truck.

[red-beard]

get one which reads rpm and advance.

[Superman]

Yes, I agree that your next TL should have the 'advance' feature. Timing lights can also be used to check and see if a cylinder is getting spark. I found one vehicle that would create a spark in a plug outside the cylinder, but not inside. Not under compression. They're useful. Plus, they look like really powerful Ray Guns.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by red-beard

get one which reads rpm and advance.

I have an older SnapOn model that has the advance dial in the head. Love it...

[speeder]

I have a Snap-on with all the features but any timing light will work fine. I rarely get to use it these days.

Why not get another older Sun light on ebay in good condition? Probably very cheap.

[RoninLB]

MSD box can screw around with many advance reading timing lights

[Laneco]

I've got a nice digital readout on my timing light. Works very well and has proven quite durable. I've never used it on an MSD system, but I have used it on an electromotive. I was able to verify by reading the voltage from the electromotive unit that the timing light was showing the correct reading.

You want to talk about old school stuff that nobody has anymore?

I have a dwell tach...

How many chicks have a dwell tach? And know how to use it? That one is definately collecting dust.

angela

[Tobra]

I have one of those dwell-o-meters too. Ended up getting the generic light. When I put it all back together it was on the dot, made a little mark on base of tach before I took it off, hooked it all up and it ran better than it has in years, think that coil and control module were going out for a while.

[gtc]

I guess it's too late, but I bought one of these for a friend for timing his 914. The advance feature made it a lot easier to find and time to the arbitrary 5 degree timing mark on the 914 fan.