Distributor Install

u want piston 1 tdc on compression stroke and balancer on 0

You want the balancer on either 0 or 10 degrees whatever you prefer ... either one will work. But, make sure the intake valve on the number 1 cylinder just closed while turning the engine clockwise from the front ... when the intake valve closes ... then within a half of a turn or less, you can point the balancer onto 0 or 10 degrees. Just because the balancer is on 0 or 10 degrees does not mean you can insert the distributor, because it might be 180 degrees out. Remember, the cranshaft turns two revolutions for every one revolution of the camshaft. This is why you align up 0 or 10 degrees right after the number one cylinder intake valve just closed (turning clock-wise from the front) ... then its ready to fire the number one cylinder. Then, what you want to do is insert the distributor and closely match the rotor with the number one electrode within the distributor (it helps to put a mark on the adapter plate below the cap). As it slides in, it will move/rotate with the spiral of the gear on the camshaft. As you are putting it in, rotate the rotor left and right raising and lowering the distributor (it tends to help ease installation and engage the oil pump driveshaft. Once you think you have it in the right tooth as close as possible to the number one electrode (or just before it) in the distributor or your mark on the adapter plate mounted to the distributor, you want to move the base of the distributor counter clockwise & clockwise to check for clearance within the engine compartment in relation to the alignment of the rotor to cap. Ideally, if you have the right tooth engaged, you shall be able to get more adjustment before the number one electrode in the cap and only a little bit of adjustment after the electrode in the cap (this is because you need to advance the timing normally not retard it past 0 degrees). And, you want the Ignition module to be between the upper radiator hose and the AC bracket. If you cannot get this, then you may have to move it one tooth after having noted how it slipped in and rotated the first time. If it is a tooth off, just turn the rotor (counter-clockwise) and pull up on the base lightly (if you were working it in like suggested above, this works great) ... you'll feel through the rotor when you are on top of the gear ... then just turn it slowly and lightly ... then you will feel it drop into the next tooth if that is the direction you need to go. Once you feel you are on the top of the tooth and would have to go in the opposite direction just turn it counter-clockwise to get it out of the tooth engagement (pulling up slightly) ... then turn it clockwise to get to the next tooth. The keep is to keep it rested on top of the tooth but support the weight of the distributor. With practice, it is very easy to do all of this. I hope this helps in explaining things for you! Also, if for some reason you cannot get the oil pump shat engaged and have an 1/8 gap at the bottom of the distributor and base, just keep lifting on the base lightly while turning the rotor counter-clockwise then clockwise ... this raises and lowers the distributor in the block. If you do it semi quickly, it usually centers the oil pump drive shaft and it drops all of the way into the block w/o a problem. Once its in correctly, there will not be a gap between the base of the distributor and block, and it will rotate back and forth nicely on the machined surface of the block.

If you initially moved the harmonic balancer to 10 degrees, you would want to then rotate the housing of the distributor so that the center of the rotor is aligned with the center of the number 1 electrode in the cap. If you set the harmonic balance to 0 degrees initially, then you just want the rotor to be just a hair before the number 1 electrode coming up in its counter-clockwise rotation. If you set the edge of the rotor to the edge of the electrode coming up in rotation, this should be about 10 degrees. Either way, you are in the ballpark and it will start up and run very easily from here to throw a timing light on it.

Though you may know most of this, I wanted to help anyone out that may have had questions about installing a distributor correctly. Its one of those things that is so hard to describe on paper but is so easy to learn watching someone else and knowing what you are actually doing and why. Too many times, I have seen guys clamp down there distributor and lock the oil pump driveshaft then failure occurs ... or starting it twenty times and wasting an hour to get it timed properly even to run. I hope this helps someone out there! Its as concise as I can get w/o having to write a book on the matter ... feel like i already have!

Some more help - with diagrams...

Putting the distributor back in and setting the timing.
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.

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

It is possible to install the distributor w/o engaging the oil pump drive shaft but then the distributor would NOT be all the way down in the block but up about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch and NOT down in the block recess. However, if the distributor is down in the block recess then the oil pump driveshaft IS engaged unless something is wrong down below. If nothing was disturbed down below, then it would be engaged. And if an oil pump was installed or something like that, then it also would have to have been installed properly like anything else and if so, it would be engaged.