Which timing light do you guys think is the most accurate? I set my timing awhile ago to 35* using a dial back light. I check my timing today using a D cell light and it reads 33*. I have not A B tested them back to back yet. Curious of your opinions on which is most accurate.

I NOW have one with the d cell battery, they say it is good for MSD , I trust it

I’ve used two dial back units. One was off a little, the other a lot.

Many dial back lights are confused by Msd type of ignitions. Ferret made the best timing lights but they went out of business. They where sold as several different brands Including Msd. Maybe Msd bought them out?

I don't own a dial back. The non dial back chrome sears craftsman/penske lights have been reliable for me. I also have a D cell light that works and has less wires to get cut or melted.

Old craftsman non dial back light works also.

Ok, thanks guys. Gonna stick with the D cell light. Gonna dial my timing back to 33* and see if my blowby issue clears up. I'm thinking maybe a 12.5:1 511 with heart shaped chamber might like 33 vs 35 or 36*.

Or this

When you find a timing light you trust do not lone it out. I was and idiot and loaned mine to a college educated mechanical engineer. Two times I told him to lay the wires out of the way. Yep. Five minutes later he came back with my timing light wires almost melted through. He bought me a used piece of she- ite from Facebook. Yaaa it’s worked real well.

Using a digital dial-back light here - INNOVA 3568.

The nice thing is that with a quick push of a button I get multiple functions: RPM, Timing, Dwell, all in a convenient display.

Makes for easy idle check, followed by RPM rise to see when the rest of the mechanical advance curve kicks and is all in. Appears to be spot on, it matched my old dial-back light.

If you verify the accuracy of the timing tab and if the dampener has a tape or is mark on it for checking certain degrees before or after TDC then you can usually trust what you see, if you haven't verified them maybe you should
I've seen more than one Mopar racer have an early dampener on a motor with a later timing cover and think their motor was fubar due to it not reading the same on the total timing as they found worked best on other motors of the same size and parts in them
Trust, but always verify every detail on new race motor assembling

Yes, i have one of those somewhere. Mine is all chrome, but it is a sears light my dad had. Probably from the 70's i guess.

Agree. I verified my factory cover to an ATI dampener with true TDC. Right now the difference is in the two lights. I tend to trust the D cell light more than the dial back, but the dial back is much brighter making it easier to see timing mark.

I (and other people I know) have seen an issue with some fancy dial back Snap-On timing lights and certain MSD ignitions. Not small variances but way off. When we have had that problem we just found and old chrome timing light from the 70's and checked the timing and it was right where we knew it was.

Street car, daily driver, bone stock...dial back so you can line up the TDC mark to the pointer for timing. Off a degree or two, who cares.

Race/performance with a degreed damper and/or MSD... no dial backs

Old chrome Sears, Penske,Craftsman, MSD light or self powered Flaming River, although the battery powered units are usually only slightly brighter than a Bic lighter.

And verify the marks are right when you put the engine together.

THIS^^^^^ All timing lights have a slew rate. That affects what they read. Pick a light, tune with it and stick with it. What it says is far less important that tuning with the same light.

Hook the dialback timing lights to a separate battery and they'll work on MSD.

Yep, I loaned out my favorite craftsman light and it came back with a broken inductive pickup. I also loaned out a compression gage that never did make it back. I have an old Brown and Sharp dial caliper with a broken bezel. I didn't break it.

I should have known better. A mechanic back in the early 70's told me "You make your living with your tools. You don't loan them out and you don't ask to borrow them from another mechanic. If you need a tool buy it and then you will have it." Since I no longer make my living with my tools I have gotten a little lax with that rule and it bit me.

Yes I agree that I do not loan my tools , unless I am there . I have been using my Snap-on dial light since 95 , have only used this one . I do have MSD , & crank trigger . Rock solid flash & does not jump around . I also agree just stick to one light . Gary

We're looking to upgrade to digital dial-back light here. That Innova 3568 looks like got some good features. Still waiting for the brake pads and mud tires to be mounted on the Wrangler JK before we can clear the garage and start the Charger mods.

there is only ONE person i lend any of my tools to, and that guy respects and treats my tools with kid gloves. he is also a fellow machinist and probably my oldest friend.
when i need something, he is there for me as well.
at times, accidents will happen, no matter how careful we try to be. [ALL accidents are PREVENTABLE, as all the safety videos say ] if that occurs, either of us replaces the broken item with the same, or better quality, item.
when that occurs, there is the back and forth bitc$h session of "you duma$$, you didn't HAVE to do that !"........
also, all the broken tools get tossed into a 5 gallon bucket to be used when we need to fabricate a tool for a "one use or oddball" application.
over the years, we have acquired quite a collection of those types of tools. ya never know when we will need it again...............[probably never ]