Learned this on the fly while driving our old (read: beater) dodge motorhome, doghouse off, adjusting carb and loosening and moving distributor to get her just right. After that trip it's honestly never ran better and starts right up as soon as that key turns.

Here we go!

In today's day and age of record high gas prices bump that timing a " nuuddga" and get better mileage.

This brought back so many memories. Tuning the classics of the 1950's and 1960's for the older folks.

Go ahead and do that to a 10.1 compression engine with steel heads , broken ring lands, busted piston rings. If you power time a 7.5 or 8.1 compression engine..go for it..that's fine, I did it to my pinto and ran better. I did that to a 350 with 10.5 compression and destroyed the engine

I'm going to need to try this on my 70 firebird... And yes I'm "younger" in my 30s

Sorry..meant this to be int he main comments section..but agree with your point about passing this valuable information to younger petrol heads like me 🙂

Rear end in a recliner 👍😂

I dont understand using a timing light as every engine is slightly different and you have to tweak anyways. You essentially do the same as this but with a fancy strobe light.

Haha I used to know that one ,but I haven't played around with enough distributors in quite a few years. Always cool to relearn something 😅

Yes! LS has no soul.

Lol you like old cars because its alive and an organ to tune carefully when new engines are equally alive and have more parts to tune.

no one in government want you to have old junk,, they make laws to dificult your life until you really need to give up.

can you tune it correctly???

@@umakemerandy3669 new engines have more sensors. and you can put a lot f those sensor on older engine like an o2 sensor in your headers to tune it. you can put an electronic distributor in an old engine that works on your mobile device with a timing table. you wanna put a new engine in an old car to give yourself some sort of confidence? go for it. its not really necessary though

Go work on a car and do uncle tony proud. Brother man

Just replace mine. Power steering leaked on rubber ring causing it to slip. Fixed leak so won’t happen again. It was way off.

I was going to say the vacuum gauge trick is a pretty consistent method to get the best results on older, high mileage engines, even works well on fresh, tight older engines, good to see others sharing this dying knowledge, 👍🤔😁

A vacuum gauge, a screw driver, a 9/16 wrench and clean ears. A full tune up tool kit.

vacuum for waht, to detect detonation?

@@paulhare662 engine in heavey solitation,,, can detonate and you cant be on the engine to ear it... one thinh is idel another is cimibing with heavy weight it will detonate as hell and you can even lsiten to it.

too many variables that's why you have to do it by ear

@@schlomoshekelstein908 SURE AND the most aprt of detonation you canot lsiten,,, so the explanaton of uncle is not ablsolutly correct i thingk is information jsut for beginners. there are many factors thayt amke engine detoante and you dont lsiten if your in the limit,,, speciall if is a vintage,, cause it cant variate timing automatically unless you put there a good detector and make it retard with anotehr ignition

I just leave my timing and add mmt to my gas for the 100 degree weather. It does make a bit less power admittedly.

I have an 85 D150 with a 318. Awesome truck.

i do the same and it works .i use a second person to hold the brake and i will operate the fuel and set the timing .

I love this idea. Thanks guys.

We would power brake and be ready to take a short ride lol

Used to park cars that way..

M,

When you write, try a period every now and then. More people would stand a chance of understanding what you're trying to say.

you're ear = you are ear. I think you mean your ear. Thank you Tony. There's not many people out there like you. I love the channel 'cause you keep it simple, on a budget, the way I grew up and then a wrench turner for 25 years. I'm 40 now. I was blessed to learn some things from guys that are either dead or retired now. Sometimes your ear and your right foot are your best tools.

People pay little attention to starters. Old Mopars burn up their starters. They still turn the engine but way....way too slow. Can't tell you how often I told people you need a starter..."But it's working." "No, it is turning but it is not working."

Very true. I got sick and tired of going through the orange chicken lo-mein specials from AutoZone, so I spent more on a USA-made PowerMaster gear reduction unit. Never had a problem again.

Our original factory starter always required a very good strong battery to get going until we discovered the missing field coil mounting screw.

Totally right on. Most would then back off the timing till the engine starts with little trouble . This doesn't make power though.

OEM starters were never really tknown for torque. And... [extreme] heat does funny things to field coil strength [field strength drifts], and that causes torque to drop. What we can do is pay attention to maintenance: drop the starter every two years for a clean and inspect. Remove all carbon dust from brush wear with compressed air [and don't breath that in]. A collection of this plus moisture allows tracking - commutator bars are becoming partially shorted. After that, insulators between bars should not be level with bars - a small slot should exist. A small slotted screwdriver [hardened tip] that has tip gound dead flat/no deburring works reasonably well to rake slots clean. If brushes are found with 1/3 wear or more replace them. If you find copper drag [evidenced by overhangs on trailing edges] that is cause for spring replacement - they are weak. Pro-tip: do NOT douse a commutator with lectra clean: it can wash carbon under mica and eventually cause a flashover. Instead, spray a little bit on a clean rag and wipe clean prior to reassembling. Last but not least: oil kills brushes - fast. Identify the source and fix it. That does not mean getting rid of oil impregnated leather or felt bushings some starrters are made with - they need them.

well there are some detoantion you can not lsiten and still there...

But detoantion occur with other factors, when climbing caryin heavy cargos, temperature outside etcc. and the main detonation you can not lsiten it

Same here! My neighbor who helped me build my first sbc taught me this. I don't think he even owned a timing light.

Also, it’s funny how Tony says nudge. Lol

have a buddy a do a brake stand while your at the side of car adjusting the timing ;)

its a hard thing to discribe when people not in tune with details of sound, is acquired over time you get in tune with the sounds of exhaust notes other sense is smell of exhaust or the color inside of pipe, says alot of things to people in tune of an engine as to spark plugs

1.5 nudge = 1 butthair (butthairs are slightly thicker cuz of dingleberries and Klingons I believe)

LOL!

Yes but you can tune a mechanical engine- NOT to knock.

@@fastinradfordable Never having knock leaves performance on the table. That's why Tony's tuning style is to go all the way to knock...then back it off a noodge so the engine doesn't throw a leg out of bed. The computer controlled variety does exactly the same thing, only it does it over and over, taking into account variations in fuel quality, engine load, engine temperature, intake air temp, etc...constantly trying to get right up against the edge of knock without actually doing damage...so you always get the maximum performance that's available. Yeah, you can get no knock in either case...but that's not how to tune for performance.

Just needed a sbc and a good rear, and of course, keep out of rain.

@@claudeladow2334 That Vega was rusted beyond belief at the time, about 1981, it was a 74. The only thing GM actually accomplished with those things was selling Japanese cars. 🤣