How engine timing works

Distributor
The distributor both sends the HT current to the correct sparkplug and ensures that it arrives at
the best time for maximum efficiency.
For an engine to work at its best, the fuel/air mixture in each cylinder must fire
just as the piston reaches top dead centre (TDC).
It takes a certain time for the spark-plug to ignite the mixture and for the combustion to
build up. This time stays roughly the same no matter how fast the engine is running.
The timing mechanism is set to fire the plug a short time before the TDC. But because
the mechanism is worked by the motion of the engine, this time would normally
decrease as the engine ran faster, and the plug would fire too late.
So a mechanical device is fitted to advance firing - make it happen earlier - with
increasing engine speed.
The load on an engine - whether it is pulling hard or cruising - also affects the timing.

A lightly loaded engine works best if the ignition is advanced an extra amount. A second
vacuum-operated device controls this independently of the first.
Centrifugal advance mechanism
The centrifugal advance mechanism responds to engine speed. It is usually in the
bottom of the distributor body under the contact-breaker baseplate.
Two steel weights are attached to a revolving plate on the distributor shaft by pivots, and
held in the closed position by strong springs.
As the engine speeds up, centrifugal force throws the weights outwards.
They turn on their pivots, twisting the contact-breaker cam forwards so that the points
open earlier, and the sparkplug fires earlier as the speed increases.
Vacuum advance mechanism
The vacuum advance mechanism responds to the vacuum in the engine inlet manifold,
which is caused by the suction of the moving pistons. When the engine is lightly loaded
the vacuum increases.
A narrow pipe runs from the manifold to a vacuum chamber on the distributor, inside
which there is a flexible diaphragm.
As the vacuum increases, the diaphragm bends, moving a rod connected to its centre
which causes the contact-breaker baseplate to swivel slightly. This moves the contactbreaker heel relative to the distributor cam and advances the ignition.
When the engine is under load, vacuum decreases, the diaphragm springs back and the
ignition is retarded to suit the changed conditions.
How electronic ignition works
Many newer cars have an electronic ignition system which times the spark more
precisely than a mechanical system.

The two types of triggering mechanism

In this electronic ignition system, steel ridges on a rotor create a small voltage as they pass
through the magnetic field of the triggerhead.
Magnetic strips embedded in the rotor create the voltage in this system each time they are
opposite the triggerhead, which triggers a power transistor.
It also wears less, so that it is always at peak efficiency, and it overcomes one problem
of a mechanical system: at high engine speeds a mechanical system does not work at
peak efficiency.
Electronic systems may be of the inductive discharge or capacitive discharge type.
An inductive discharge system is the type usually fitted as original equipment on cars
with electronic ignition. It produces high-tension (HT) current in the normal way: by
switching low-tension (LT) current off and on in a coil.
In the simplest inductive discharge system, the transistor-assisted contacts (TAC) type,
there is also a normal contact breaker.
It carries only a very small current, which is fed to a power transistor which switches on
and off the heavier LT current to the coil.
The contact-breaker points are not eroded by the small current, so they stay clean for
longer, and the gap seldom needs resetting.
More advanced, fully electronic systems may not have points. Instead, the distributor
contains another form of triggering device for the power transistor which relies on
electrical pulses instead of a mechanical make-andbreak method.
In one type there is an electromagnetic coil and a revolving spiked rotor with one steel
spike for each cylinder.
Every time a spike moves past the coil it creates a small voltage which triggers the
transistor.
Some other types may have optical or magnetic triggers - they all perform the same
function.

A capacitive discharge (CD) system - used in some do-it-yourself kits produces HT

current in the coil by sending a large pulse from a capacitor through the primary
winding.
The capacitor is an electrical storage device which can be charged and discharged very
rapidly.
The secondary windings of the coil produce HT current both at the moment when the LT
current in the primary windings is switched on, and at the moment it is switched off.
Because a capacitor can give a very large pulse very fast, there is always a strong
spark, irrespective of the speed of the engine.
The timing in this system may again be fully electronic or it may use the contact-breaker
points.
Adjusting the timing
The usual way of adjusting the timing is to slacken the clamping bolt of the distributor
and turn the whole unit slightly.
The amount by which the two advance mechanisms change the timing is not adjustable.
Some earlier distributors have a knurled nut on the vacuum advance mechanism, by
which you can alter the timing as a whole (not just the action of the mechanism).