Distributor Install Questions

You posted a TECH question in Talk. This limits your chances of getting some really good advice, since most guys aren't looking for Tech stuff in the Talk forum.

My advice to you is to twofold:
1.) Send a PM to one of the moderators and have your thread moved to 5.0 Tech
2.) Next time you start a thread, think about where it goes. If you are new to Stangnet, please read the terms of service and give extra thought to where your new thread belongs. There is some help in the text below to help you find the best place to start your thread.

General tech problems go in 5.0 Tech. Tech is for suspension, electrical, brakes, body, engine repair and general troubleshooting on the computer & trouble codes

Tall tales about your 5.0 Mustang, pictures of your 5.0 Mustang project and stories about your last trip to the race track go in 5.0 Talk.

Do this and you'll get the best answers quicker and not get lost in the maze of posts about everything but the type of problem you are having.

Having said that, here’s some help…


Putting the distributor back in and setting the timing.


You can forget about anything beyond this point if you don't have access to a timing light. You will never get the timing set right without one.


Putting the distributor back in is fairly simple. Pull #1 sparkplug, put your finger in the sparkplug hole, crank the engine until you feel compression. Then line up the TDC mark on the balancer with the pointer on the engine block.

The distributor starts out with the #1 plug wire lined up at about 12:00 with you facing it. Align the rotor to about 11:00, since it will turn clockwise as it slides into place.

Align the distributor rotor up with the #1 position marked on the cap, slide the distributor down into the block, (you may have to wiggle the rotor slightly to get the gear to engage) and then note where the rotor is pointing.
If it still lines up with #1 position on the cap, install the clamp and bolt. If not, pull it out and turn 1 tooth forwards or backwards and try again. Put the #1 spark plug back in and tighten it down, put the clamp on the distributor, but don't tighten it too much, as you will have to move the distributor to set the timing. Note that there is no such thing as one tooth off on a 5.0 Mustang. If it doesn't align perfectly with #1 position, you can turn the distributor until it does. The only problem is that if you are too far one way or the other, you can't turn the distributor enough to get the 10-14 degree optimum timing range.


Setting the timing:
Paint the mark on the harmonic balancer with paint -choose 10 degrees BTC or 14 degrees BTC or something else if you have NO2 or other power adder. I try to paint TDC red, 10 degrees BTC white and 14 degrees BTC blue.

10 degrees BTC is towards the drivers side marks.

Note: setting the timing beyond the 10 degree mark will give you a little more low speed acceleration. BUT you will need to run 93 octane to avoid pinging and engine damage. Pinging is very hard to hear at full throttle, so it could be present and you would not hear it.

Simplified diagram of what it looks like. Not all the marks are shown for ease of viewing.

ATC ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' '!' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' BTC
---------------- > Direction of Rotation as viewed standing in front of the engine.

The ' is 2 degrees.
The ! is TDC
The ' is 10 degrees BTC
Set the timing 5 marks BTC. Or if you prefer, 5 marks towards the driver's side to get 10 degrees.

To get 14 degrees, set it 7 marks BTC. Or if you prefer, 7 marks towards the driver's side to get 14 degrees.

The paint marks you make are your friends if you do it correctly. They are much easier to see that the marks machined into the harmonic balancer hub.

At this point hook up all the wires, get out the timing light. Connect timing light up to battery & #1 spark plug. Then start the engine.

Remove the SPOUT connector (do a search if you want a picture of the SPOUT connector) It is the 2 pin rectangular plug on the distributor wiring harness. Only the EFI Mustang engines have a SPOUT. If yours is not EFI, check for a SPOUT: if you don’t find one, skip any instructions regarding the SPOUT
Warning: there are only two places the SPOUT should be when you time the engine. The first place is in your pocket while you are setting the timing and the second is back in the harness when you finish. The little bugger is too easy to lose and too hard to find a replacement.

Start engine, loosen distributor hold down with a 1/2" universal socket. Shine the timing light on the marks and turn the distributor until the mark lines up with the edge of the timing pointer. Tighten down the distributor hold down bolt, Replace the SPOUT connector and you are done.

The HO firing order is 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8.
Non HO firing order is 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8

Gotta back Kurt and jrichker. Both have given the best way to find tdc. I always do this when the distributor comes out. Just IMHO the easiest way to make sure everything is where it should be.

moved to tech...

With a new motor certainly the above advice is great.

With a motor already installed(being used already) just pop the cap, take a pic with your phone of the rotor placement. And as you start to pull the distributar up gently start turning it counter clockwise and take note how far the rotor spins. Then just start the rotor there when reinstalling it will spin back clocvkwise, it will be close so setting the timing with a light will fine tune it. You may already know this, maybe it will just help someone else just replacing the distributor.

..and gently grab the rotor and jiggle it back and forth as your removing and installing that will help out a lot to find the grooves, make sure to lube up the gear for initial start up, some oil or lube etc