Triumph Repair: Timing marks, coat hanger, white paint

Question
Hi
I have a MK3 1967 1296cc. Spitfire. It is missfiring and I believe the timing is out. Their is a single pointer on the front of the engine. On the crank pully their are three marks. I am assuming that the center one is TDC. Please can you confirm which one I should time the ignition to. As I only see picture of later models in my manuals.
Thank you for your help
Gordon

Answer
Hi Gordon,
The earlier Spitfires had a wedge shaped pointer on the timing cover and lines on the edge of the front balancer. If you can only see three marks on your pulley. You need to remove #1 plug and hand rotate the engine until the marks are up and then take a piece of wire like a coat hanger and put it as straight up in the plug hole as you can and slowly hand rotate the engine back and forth to establish true Top Dead Center (TDC). Then look at the timing mark to establish true TDC. Clean the pulley and put a dab of white paint on the TDC line. Some older cars can have their front balancer pulley slip because the rubber deteriorates with age.

Your pulley should have more than just 3 lines.
If you have a timing light with the degree setting on it you should set the timing running at 2 deg ATDC. If you are going to set it static, you should set it to 6 deg BTDC providing your engine number is under FK25000 and distributor # 311761. If you are in the US.

Howard