Singer 16-188 timing vs take up spring issue

[peterstarch]

Hello all, I have very recently acquired a singer 16-188 and I have managed to mess up either the timing or the take up spring (the loop forms just before the hook has time to pick it up), I am not exactly sure which. I am using a size #138 thread with a size 23 needle (16x63) I was just wondering if anyone could tell by just looking at a picture of the BDC position of the needle to tell whether it is timed correctly or not. I believe the eye of the needle is about 1/16" too far below the hook. I wanted to ask so if in the case it is the fault of the take up spring I can save myself the trouble of removing the whole faceplate (is that what its called?) to access the needle bar. Thank you everyone! And this forum is truly a wealth of information. I do not sew with leather all that much, but even the machine information here is probably one of the best resources on the internet I have found. 

[friquant]

Welcome to the forum!

At bottom dead center, the eye of the needle must be below the point of the hook. Do you have a manual for setting the needle bar height? 

Hard to tell from the photo, but make sure the long groove in the needle is pointing left

The thread check spring has a lot more motion than it probably needs. Generally it only needs to maintain tension until the needle hits the goods.