no timing pointer

[joe'stoy]

I just purchased an assembled B & B with a 351W that doesn't have a timing pointer. I checked out Summit and their least expensive pointer is $70 plus. Ford Motorsport is about the same. (I must have been thinking about a SBC and expecting $20). Are there other sources?
Joe

[Barnsnake]

You can make your own quite easily.
Use a piece of stiff wire or fabricate it from sheet metal. Attach it to a bolt near the crank damper in a location that is easy to hit with a timing light.

Insert a piston stop in #1 cylinder. Gently rotate the crankshaft clockwise until it stops. Make a mark on the damper at your pointer.

Rotate the crankshaft counter-clockwise until it stops. Put another mark at that location on the damper.

Measure half way between the two marks and make another mark. This is top-dead-center.

Order the appropriate timing tape from Summit (or whoever) and apply it to the damper with its TDC mark exactly on your measured mark.

You now have a timing pointer that is easy to see and is perfectly accurate (unlike those tin things spot-welded on SBC timing covers).

[vettestr]

You can always make your own. A piece of a rusty old coat hanger clamped under a bolt will work so making a nice looking pointer should be pretty easy.
I have seen some really nice parts made in the home shop The bigger trick is matching your new pointer to true TDC.

[Fox]

Try Mustangs Unlimited... They do have others too.

289 / 302 / 351 Pointer

-John

[bobcowan]

I made this one from a heavy washer and a short piece of 1/4" rod.

In this picture, it's just sitting on the work bench, not installed on the car. That's why some bolts are loose, and things don't look just right.