(lifted from 94-95gt faq sheet)
By David Courtright (1fstgt)
1. Find the timing marks on the harmonic balancer. Using the
bright colored marker, put a mark on the 10* BTDC timing line and wherever you
are going to set the timing to. Most people mark 14*-16* BTDC it just varies.
Some engines will let you run 16* without detonation and some won't it all just
depends on gas octane, heat, injector size, and fuel pressure. Start out at 14*
to be safe. Anyways, mark the 10* and wherever you want to set the timing to. I
mark the 10 with one color and the 14 with another color. This allows you to see
the marks very clearly when you are up top with the light.
2. Next, disconnect the SPOUT connector. This is a two pink wire connector
located in the passenger side fender towards the front around the air box.
Unplug the grey part of the connector from the black part. Now your SPOUT is
disconnected which takes the computer out of the equation while setting timing.
you will have to plug this back in at the end so don't lose it.
3. Locate the timing pointer (shown above) from the top of the engine
compartment. It's a little bracket above the balancer and it's easiest to see
from the left side of the engine compartment. This is what you will be looking
at with the timing light.
4. Hook up the timing light to the number one cylinder plug wire. This is the
cylinder closest to the front on the passenger side. Hook up the light to the
battery. The light will flash every time the number one cylinder fires. This is
what you set the timing off of.
5. Loosen the distributor hold down bolt. Do not remove all the way. You will be
turning the distributor to adjust timing.
6. Start your engine (make sure the wires from your timing light are away from
any moving parts, don't forget the car is running!) , your light should be
flashing. point the light at the timing pointer down below. You should see the
two marks that you made.
Now turn the distributor until the desired mark lines up with the pointer.
That's all there is to it. Now tighten down that hold down bolt and recheck your
timing to make sure when you tightened the bolt that the timing didn't change.
7. Shut off the engine. Reconnect the SPOUT connector and go for a drive. Do
some full throttle accelerations to make sure there is no detonation. Detonation
sounds kind of like a very rapid rattling noise. If it does make this rattling
noise, that is very bad and you must adjust the timing back down. If you don't
you will really mess up your engine. Retard it two degrees and then drive again
to see if it detonates. This all depends on the conditions, some will, and some
won't.
