Re: Timing tutorial?

I'll bet that the eccentrics on your 1.5" engine are held in position on the axle with set screws, not keys that have to be remade with every trial, and that the sliding joint between the eccentric strap and eccentric rod doesn't have fitted bolts whose holes need to be welded up and re drilled and reamed, and new custom bolts made every time you need to make an adjustment.

Add to that, eccentric rod and strap assemblies that weigh four or five hundred pounds sitting tight under a boiler with no lifting eyes over them to rig the hoist to lower the parts to the floor of the pit. Add to that, don't forget the joy in discovering that the reverse eccentric needs to be reset, which involves pulling both eccentric rods/straps, removing both eccentrics from the axle, making a new step key that you hope has the right amount of offset, then reassembling everything in order to try it over, and discovering that while it is closer, it still isn't right, so you rinse and repeat.

Vs. Walschaert where when you discover that you need to change the length of the eccentric rod, so you walk over to it, ten minutes later it is off the engine, an hour later it is cooling down from being adjusted. When cool, you can confirm that the adjustment was correct without having to put it back on the engine. If it is, you put it back on, and ten minutes later you move on to the next step.