Timing

[AustinWood]

A cork in the plug hole pops out on the compression stroke.

[Tony Press]

B*gg*r - everyone has copied my idea 

The benefit if the balloon is that you can find TDC 

Try that with your cork !

[Steve Clare]

It had seemed mildly problematic to time the engine.
Now i get to make Heath Robinson balloon gadgets, try to guess when soap bubbles are at their maximium by trial and error, and fire corks across the garage.
This forum is nothing short of excellent

[Tony Press]

A cheery spot amid the gloom and doom, especially here in Melbourne under Stage 4 lockdown, compulsory mask wearing  and 8 pm curfew- which at nearly 3 weeks seems to be taking an extraordinary long time to have any effect 

[Chris KC]

I guess you are not pressing hard enough John - or perhaps you have no compression?

I'm happy for you Tony - at least your powers that be are taking it seriously. Here they are queuing (unmasked) to get into pubs and the general public's attitude to Covid is "whatever". I'm only guessing, but we may later look back and regret that we didn't do all we could in the summer months when the virus was weak. The onset of winter will be an interesting time, if only because no-one will know whether they have Covid or seasonal flu.

[John Mason]

Chris KC. I do have plenty of compression but find it difficult to hold my thumb tightly over the plug hole whilst in a position to crank the engine over. The engine fires first swing on the handle. And I can feel plenty of compression whilst cranking but the plugs are in then sealing the plug holes.

John Mason.

[Chris KC]

Fair enough John, and of course the contortions required will vary somewhat with (car!) body type.

[andrew34ruby]

It's not a good idea to put a thumb onto a hole with much pressure. Air injected into the bloodstream kills!

[Tony Press]

Especially not a small thumb into a large plughole 

At last under 200 new cases for Melbourne in the Friday report- it may all be worth it 

[wild_willy]

I set TDC on my Nippy (9E head without direct access to the piston) using a thin piece of rod placed into the plug hole at an acute angle so it rested on top of the piston.TDC can then be found by feel and the mid point of the piston null judged quite accurately . I then filed a small notch on the edge of the fan pulley and made up a pointer in line with the notch (care would need to be taken if the pulley is ever removed to ensure TDC is again found and the pulley re aligned with the pointer). Timing can then be achieved easily using a timing light. If you have a read back style electronic timing light, total timing can be assessed as well.