The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest A case of Timing Light over kill

My old 50year old Sears timing light was kind of out dated so I last year I opted to replace it with some new technology. Looked for a week or so and settled on the Innova Pro 5568 and it does everything you could want. Might even be able to get Rachel Ray tuned into it if I could ever figure out the directions.
Yep, had it for a year at least and I’ve only used it a few times, mostly because every time I haul it out I have to sit down the night before with a couple of beers and re-read the manual, and even then, I’m not sure what it’s telling me.
Modern technology, another case of over kill.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I didn't think that thing would work on a 6 volt system. I guess you could fire it with a external power supply. Regardless it's a good piece.

SimS

Yeah, once you get it figured out. And that's the problem with it, if you don't use it once a week every time you want to haul it out you have to sit down with the manual and try to figure out what all the buttons and modes are. It's like trying to set the time and date on one of those dang digital clocks. Push this button twice while holding down this other button while the light on the left is flashing three times.........arg, I think you old timers know what I mean.

Took my 29 year old for a ride in the truck yesterday afternoon. We got on the road and I reached up and turned the on/off/volume control to the right and she says, "What does that do?" If it taint got push buttons and a digital readout the under thirty crowd don't know how to operate it. Sort of the same problem I'm having with the timing light cept in reverse.

And yes, I've got a 12v battery that I keep under the bench for stuff like this and if I need to power up any 12v stuff for testing. Input voltage specs on the 5568 are 10-16 volts DC. Still don’t under stand what the advance thing on the timing light is all about. Maybe someone could explain that better than the China man that wrote the manual.

Funny thing though. I installed a new vacuum advance on the 216 yesterday. Brought the ball around till it was dead nuts on the pointer, dropped the distributor back in the hole, clipped my $2.99 DVOM leads to the side terminal and ground, turned the distributor just till the points broke open and locked her down.
Started her up let it warm up and idled it down to 500rpm pushed the FLASH button on that fancy hunert dollar timing light and the ball stopped "dead nuts" right under the pointer. So it just goes to show ya that your really don’t need all that fancy stuff to tune up a Stovebolt. Oh, and it runs much nicer with the vacuum advance working!
DG

LOL. The advance thing is the feature that I really like. I goes like this: If you you need to set the timing at 5 degrees BTDC, you set the light to 5 degrees advanced and when you shoot the ball; it is right on the pointer. I like it because you don't have to try and match the timing mark up to timing tab degree markings, etc. Also you have a tach built in so you can check your advance curve too. Technology is slick and you're right you can get by with old school too.

SimS

And then you forget about the advance thing because you didn't have time to read the manual for eleventeenth time last night and can't get the car timed because it is cranked all the way to a hunnert degrees.

Souinds like you got one of these dang things also Vern.

Yeah, I gotta agree, once you get it all figured out it is nice, just one hell of a learning curve that with me doesn't last more than a few days.

DG

My old SnapOn light still works on 6 or 12 volt. If it ever breaks, I think I will buy another one like it on eBay.

I've still got "my old Sears" that works kind of half arsed on
6v, it was weak and didn't have an inductive clip. That's why I
decided to move up to the twenty first century and go with a new
light. Didn’t anticipate the complications of having a computer
screen to memorize.
DG

LOL. Come on Denny it just has 4 buttons. How hard can it be? Besides nothing blows up or catches fire if you press the wrong button. You are a machinist and radio guru, now those are skills that I'm in awe of these days. Just write down the button sequences on a strip of paper and tape it to the gun.

SimS

"Modern technology, another case of over kill."

Denny, some people have a pleasure receptor in their brains that is stimulated by ownership of complex and expensive gadgets. The more features the gadget has, the greater the extasy. They should get one of those timing lights.

Other examples are drill doctors and flaring tools that can do all tasks including tying your shoes and preparing your tax returns.

Others of us keep it simple and real by freehand sharpening drills on a bench grinder that cut like a laser and applying timing tape to harmonic balancers to set initial timing and advance curves. We don't contribute as much to the economy though.

An old friend of mine who is a financial advisor told me long ago that the best way to double my money is to fold it in half and put it back in my wallet. As applied to tools that translates to buy the tool that will get the job done properly and performs best at the cash register.

My brother bought my mom a new phone so all her numbers could be programmed into it. We also got her a cell phone. If a new number needs to be added, or to see who called, one of us has to show her how to do it. I asked, "Why can't you figure it out?" She replies that she is too old for those modern gadgets.
I had to remind her of a conversation we had earlier about young kids and how stupid they are and how they can't do anything. I told her "They are smart enough to figure out a phone." She now knows how to program her phone after I showed her that the manual shows all of the things she needs to know and there is a help section on her cell phone. She can now figure out her fancy microwave too.

that was mean.

I prefer to call it tough love.

I'm stickin' up for Mom...us old farts don't really care about all this modern stuff. We prefer simple things like what we always knew. It was good enough to build the world the youngins' live in.

But who needs a timing light for a stovebolt anyway? Tune' em by ear. I do and it runs perfect. Haven't had my light or dwell meter out for so long I'm not sure where they are.

that's OK, but my mom also taught me that I had to put my mind to it and get out of my comfort zone to achieve things and to get ahead. I used the same principles she taught me. She doesn't think it's a big deal now.

AAw shucks guys, taint that I’m to stupid to figure all these “labor saving” gadgets out, it just that I hate to have to do it every time I want to punch in the stations on the radio or T&V, or set the clock or use the timing light. It just seems like all these “labor saving” gadgets actually take three times as much time as they’re supposed to save.
I could operate a timing light with out a manual, I could tune in the radios with out having to look at it while I was driving, the stove had a knob that turned on the gas and I didn’t have to set the timer to know when it was hot, the TV tuner was a knob turned to the right or left and I didn’t have to reprogram the dehumidifier every time the power went out.
“labor saving” gadgets, not really all they’re cracked up to be sometimes!

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

just love having to reprogram everything after the power goes out, keep forgetting the water softner tell it "recharges" when I'm in the shower

I have to buy a new timing light myself mine had a tragic accident invovling the alternator fan and thepickup lead last weekend

OK,here it goes,

The advance feature on the timming light should not be used on a stovebolt ,because the Ball and pointer ARE the advanced timming marks.

Where the advance feature is used as an example,you build a SB and the cam specs call for 32degrees BTC you can set the timming light to 32 degrees and move the dist. back and forth until the timming mark on the balancer is on the 0 mark of the degree scale,this way you don't have to try and find 32 degrees on the scale.

If you add timming on the light when you're timming a stovebolt you are adding more than what is called for in the tune up spec.If the pointer was a scale instead of a pointer it would read the advanced mark where the pointer is and the 0 mark would be say 5 or 10 degrees after that mark.



Pete

When I was teaching sometimes I would have to drive students to sporting events. I drive a PT Cruiser and they couldn't figure out the retro push button door handles.