We could have used a Dial Back Timing Light a couple of times at the Meet in Lewisburg, WV. Very handy tool. I don't have one. I do have timing tape on my '68 Camaro.
A Buick 215 harmonic balancer has two scooped areas. Since it is not perfectly round, timing tape is not ideal. So, what if you just marked the balancer for the degree that you want for total timing & revved up the engine to 2500 or 3000rpm or whatever point you want the timing to be all in & used your ordinary timing light? How to do that? With this handy calculator, of course. ;)
http://www.csgnetwork.com/timingmarkcalc.html
Pretty cool!
That's another thing we could consider on the Roadmaster. Since the OEM timing pointer is so inaccessible it might make sense to mount a pointer on the other side and mark the damper appropriately.
Jim
Or...
You COULD just do the math.
(desired total timing / 360) * balancer diameter * pi
Yea, but I bet you still used a calculator. ;)
"Yea, but I bet you still used a calculator. ;)"
Only because I'm lazy... ;-)