Morris Minor Owners Club

Well, the new vac advance unit arrived today - I fitted it (rally easy) and the car runs fine - but still not farting on the over-run!

What to do next?

Here's the nice new unit fitted:




Just one issue - now the dizzy is in good nick (no play, new vac advance, good mechanical advance, good points etc.) I decided to set up the timing properly with a strobe. The fan belt pulley has a nice groove in it, marked in white paint, but there's no "pointer" on the timing cover for it to line up with! I didn't have time to jack it up and crawl underneath to see if the previous owner had made his own timing mark, but I was a bit fed up about that!

I guess I need to make my own timing marks, and of course I can make them in a more convenient position too, but I need a way of acurately finding TDC - i.e. a dial guage, but I don't have one so I will try and borrow one. I don't suppose anyone near here has one to lend?

Cheers!

Daft question, but did you look beneath the engine for the timing pointers? They are in a bit of an awkward place. I think some people put a mirror on the ground while adjusting the timing so they can see it from above.

alex_holden wrote:Daft question, but did you look beneath the engine for the timing pointers? They are in a bit of an awkward place. I think some people put a mirror on the ground while adjusting the timing so they can see it from above.

Not a daft question! But yes, I did have a good look, and a good "feel" too - I know where the markers are, I've worked on loads of these engines, and also own a 1275 Midget which has an identical system.

Definately missing...

Cheers!

Don't bother with the strobe idea - what would you set it to anyway? Any figures provided 40/50 years ago are now irrelevant due to completely different fuel now available. Best way to set timing is to keep advancing it till you get a little pinking - then retard it back very slightly. That's it set perfectly for your engine !

Luxobarge wrote:

alex_holden wrote:But yes, I did have a good look, and a good "feel" too -
Cheers!

A lady Minor would have slapped you at that point!

bmcecosse wrote:Don't bother with the strobe idea - what would you set it to anyway? Any figures provided 40/50 years ago are now irrelevant due to completely different fuel now available. Best way to set timing is to keep advancing it till you get a little pinking - then retard it back very slightly. That's it set perfectly for your engine !

It's a good point, well made - that is in fact precisely what I did with my Midget!

It's a good deal of faffing around though, so when I've done it once I might make up some new timing marks so if I ever disturb the setting I can "strobe" it back to exactly where it should be in one hit without having to take it on "pinking" test runs etc.

Wifey has run off with the car again (see, it's a real daily driver!) but when I get some time with it I'll find a local quiet hill, take some tools and do this.

It's still not farting though!