HowTo: Advance Timing

[92g20Red]

Originally posted by CowboyDren
Many people report $20, since it's a 5-minute proceedure. For $25, you can get your own timing light and do it yourself whenever you like (especially for Californians). The optimal setting for 91-octane fuel is 19°.

all the timing lights around here are $75.....thats at schucks and its the same at baxters or autozone!

[victor]

Markbuts3, my base idle was way off using the cars tachometer as a reference. At first the car wouldn't idle at all, secret is you have to get it hot. When it would finally idle the idle speed was around 600 rpm. I raised it to what I estimated was 750 rpm, halfway between the 1000 rpm mark and the unmarked mark which I assume was 500 rpm. I then advanced the timing to the extreme end of the white painted area of the crankshaft pulley which I assume would be around 15 or 16 degrees BFTDC. Haven't driven the car yet but I hope this does something for my really bad gas mileage of 15.9 mpg. I also ran that ECU oxygen sensor test and the check engine light was blinking so I guess it passed. My FSM doesn't even have a picture of the timing marks nor does my Haynes manual so I hope the illustration in this thread is correct as to which mark is which as I saw it shown differently somewhere else.

[trinispeed]

hey man i was fooling with my timing last night listen to this i just did a DETswapand now i got serious deonation. So ibought a timing light and my time is like 22 or something crazy like that so i tried toset it but that thik was jumpingaround.

It was advanceing and retarding with the engine revs. i could not get it to steady and the car was hot.

Now what i did was i lowed the base idle, tried t as leat and that helpeda bit it does not jump around as much but it stil advances acording tothe rev ofthecar i jumpesbetween 800 and 1100 and i cannot get ti to settle.

Soi drop the base idle again and it stays most of the time now but it just advances a bit every so often with the car idle.(note this is with TPS disconnected)

Now i connect the TPS back and car idles decent now when i drive and puch in the clutch she wants to stall. so i do not know whats up.

1. should the timing be moving around at all , just a little, a lot?
2. I though the base idel should not affect your car idle in normal mode when the tps is reconnected.
3. anyidels how to lock in the timign i need

thanks, I NEED SOME HELP HERE

Trini

[victor]

trinispeed, my timing was jumping all around to last time I tried to set the idle. I did so many things to my engine I don't know which one helped the most. I changed the sparkplugs, rotor, and distributor cap, cleaned a lot of stuff, etc. A couple of things you have to do. All accesories have to be off including the airconditioner. The transmission has to be in neutral. The engine has to be hot. They say the front wheels should be pointing straight ahead. In my case my idle was too low and the engine kept dying. I also did that stuff with the ECU screw. But after all these things my idle steadied out and I could get a good reading.
If you are still getting detonation and can't set the timing turn the top of the distributor cap as far away from the firewall as the slots will allow (CCW). This would be max retard of the timing and see if this makes the detonation go away. If it does you can gradually turn it back until just before it starts detonating. You can also try higher octane gas and colder plugs and see if that helps. You might have to do all three things. Some guys with turbo install experience can help you out more than me but these are just some ideas to get you started.

[GoaTrance]

on my 02 sport i can only see the 2 white paint lines, no bites in the metal like shown above^^^......... i'm guessing these 2 marks are 13* and 15*. right now i got it set just to the right of the right mark.... anyone know how i can find 20*?

[markbuts3]

Originally posted by GoaTrance
on my 02 sport i can only see the 2 white paint lines, no bites in the metal like shown above^^^......... i'm guessing these 2 marks are 13* and 15*. right now i got it set just to the right of the right mark.... anyone know how i can find 20*?

You should still have TDC marked aswell. The easiest way is with a dial back timing light. Then you can just use TDC and set the advance on the timing light.......

[CowboyDren]

If your idle jumps around with the TPS disconnected, you need to clean your intake tract (especially throttle body), clean your EGR and BPT, set your base idle speed. Then you can set your timing. As for which marks are which on "older" SR20 engines, I'm no authority. According to this page, the marks should look something like:

   -5    0    5    10 1315   20

    |    |    |    |  ###    |

The two marks that are very close together are 13 and 15, but you want the pointer to almost tickle the 20° mark, which is the last one. Again, I'm not an expert. This illustration looks backwards to me, anyway.

[GoaTrance]

You should still have TDC marked aswell. The easiest way is with a dial back timing light. Then you can just use TDC and set the advance on the timing light.......

yes i did notice a bite in the metal way to the left(counter-clockwise) i'm guessing thats TDC. so now i need to find a dial back.

[victor]

You could always use a protractor and mark the pulley yourself. Draw a circle the same size as the crankshaft pulley on a piece of paper and then use a protractor to mark the required degrees on it and cut it out with some scizzors. Then use that as a guide to mark your pulley.

[GoaTrance]

You could always use a protractor and mark the pulley yourself. Draw a circle the same size as the crankshaft pulley on a piece of paper and then use a protractor to mark the required degrees on it and cut it out with some scizzors. Then use that as a guide to mark your pulley.

that might work, but sounds like a pita... i'm sure i can find someone with a dial back eventually

[Tigger]

You guys are mising one vital point during your idle adjustments.

You need to turn of the engine and then disconnect the tps plug.
If you just plug it off, while the engine is running the idle will surely be crapy as ecu loses all information of throttle position. As when you are off the pedal, it tels the ecu to goto idle program. Now when you just disconnect the plug while running, it will lose this signal and doesnt have a clue of the throttle position and it will go to safe mode....

The right way to do the timing is like told here, but you must turn off your engine before you disconnect the tps plug.

[CowboyDren]

Using my method, you must not turn the engine off to disconnect the TPS. I don't know where my "shortcut" directions came from, but they work, and they work exactly as I wrote them. It takes waaay less time than the FSM method, and is just as effective.

[p10socal]

Is there someone in san diego that is willing to help me out with this mod?? Thx

[willy26]

anyone wanna help me do this ...im located in SF...i dont wanna mess anything up...

[willy26]

anyone?...?

[captainzib]

Sorry if this has been asked, but it sounds like this procedure can be used on a 91 SE-Rs, and I just want to know if anyone can confirm this.
Thanks guys.

[CowboyDren]

This proceedure works on any distributor-ignited SR engine, which includes FWD, RWD, 'DE, 'DET, and 'VE engines. It does not (AFAIK) work on coil-on-plug or DIS ignition systems, such as the ones used on later RWD 'DET, RWD Roller 'DE, and 20V versions of the 'VE engine.

Yes, it'll work on your '91 FWD DE.

[Alan Johnson]

will this work on my 93 g20

[GoaTrance]

Originally posted by Alan Johnson
will this work on my 93 g20

Originally posted by CowboyDren
This proceedure works on any distributor-ignited SR engine, which includes FWD, RWD, 'DE, 'DET, and 'VE engines. It does not (AFAIK) work on coil-on-plug or DIS ignition systems, such as the ones used on later RWD 'DET, RWD Roller 'DE, and 20V versions of the 'VE engine.

[speedinmr-2]

Originally posted by victor
If you are still getting detonation and can't set the timing turn the top of the distributor cap as far away from the firewall as the slots will allow (CCW). This would be max retard of the timing and see if this makes the detonation go away.

[i]Originaly posted by dsigns[i]
To actually adjust the timing (advancing or retarding), you need to physically turn the distributor in its housing. There are two bolts holding the housing down, as illustrated in these pictures; you must loosen them both, or the housing will not turn. Don't go crazy with this, just back them out enough so that you can twist the housing. They should still be tight enough that you can let go of the housing, and the timing doesn't change on its own.
When the bolts are loose, rotate the housing counter-clockwise (top towards the firewall) to advance, or clockwise (forward) to retard. When you've reached your ideal timing setting, tighten both bolts down, and clean up. Reattach the TPS harness, turn the engine off, and restart the engine to assure that you didn't damage anything. The odds of you damaging something are pretty slim, but anything is possible, right?

Didn't the author of the thread say, at the begining of this thread, that CCW was to advance and clockwise was to retard the timming? So which way is it to advance clockwise or CCW?