Timing Light, What should I look for Options

[obscurity]

I need to buy a timing light (I think)

Two questions:
1. Do I need one to time my 1.7L? )as I recall I didn't need one for my beetle)

2. What should I look for/avoid in a timing light? I was going to stop by pep boys but I can't count on them to know anything about the lights except cost.

Thanks for any help,

[lapuwali]

You needed on to time your Beetle PROPERLY.

You can statically time any car with a distributor and points, and as long as you're happy with the results, no problem. However, dynamically timing a car is usually a much better idea, as you generally want to time the ignition to work at max advance (where you spend most of your time with the engine running), not at idle.

An adjustable timing light is almost a must on the 914, since the timing marks are hard to see, and there's generally only one mark.

If you're sticking with points, getting one of the snazzy digital jobs with a built-in dwell meter and tach would be best, though they're fairly spendy.