The lunchtime sessions under the tree sometimes turn into question-and-answer sessions. The other day, August, our young mechanic with big-city experience, asked whether it’s true that in earlier days you did not need a stroboscope (timing light) to set an engine’s ignition timing. You simply advanced the timing until the engine starts to pink under load and then retard it slightly.
We all laughed and I responded by explaining that this was a widespread practice in the days when engines were equipped with cast-iron side-valve cylinder heads. They usually delivered such low power-per-litre outputs that precise timing was a waste of time. It would never work today; the timing has to be very precise, set with great precision and subsequently left for a computer
to control.
