First time Advancing Timing!

Leave the MSD system connected.


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.

Pinging
Pinging or spark knock is not the same as detonation.

Pinging is preignition of the fuel air charge by some source of ignition other than the spark plug. The source of the ignition can be a hot spot in the combustion chamber such as carbon, a spark plug insulator, side electrode, or a sharp edge on a valve. It occurs before the spark plug can fire and while the piston is still on its upward movement towards TDC. That is the cause of the characteristic ping or ringing sound, much like shaking a coffee can full of BB’s.

Detonation is the uncontrolled explosion of the fuel air charge after the spark plug fires and starts to burn. In a properly running engine, the spark plug ignites the fuel air charge and it burns slowly and evenly across the combustion chamber, much like a fire as it burns its way across a grassy field. When detonation occurs, the ignited fuel air charge causes an increase in the combustion chamber pressure and temperature. The remaining fuel air charge that has not been burned self–ignites explosively causing tremendous heat and pressure. The source of secondary ignition can be the same as preignition, or can be simply due to the heat and pressure. Detonation is what damages engine parts because of the excessive heat and pressure.

Pinging can lead to detonation, and the results are the same: engine damage because of the excessive heat and pressure

The multiple sparking might make it tough to time with the box connected. Also, some timing lights are more finicky than others with aftermarket ignitions.

No one can tell you. Every car is different and each reacts differently. You will want to time it when you have a tank of the fuel you're going to run. You might be ok with 87 octane anyhow.

I have mine set to 16 I think? I use 93. it's only 3 more bucks a tank to use better gas... and better safe then sorry no? I would always run 93 in a stock performance car anyways. I might be dumb! I understand the RAF or whatever diffrence between gas and what it does... But 93 gas make you look like a high roller also!

Keep the timing at 10 degrees, advancing the timing to 14 degrees is a waste of time and running 93 octane is a waste of money, your not going to gain all this magical horsepower. A stock 5.0 has 9:1 compression, with 87 octane you will get better gas mileage and make more power than with high octane fuel. A supercharged 5.0 has the timing retarded down to 4 degrees and runs higher octane because of the heat produced by compressing the air causing detonation and get a special tune for the boost and higher octane fuel.

stupid california only has 91 as they're highest octane at most gas stations.....

I ran 91 in my last tank and I feel like I'm getting better mileage but then again I havent been romping as much as usual.

I have a few questions regarding this... there's so much to learn about all of this and I'm trying to piece it together..
BUT.. How does octane affect the timing, with that advancing the timing can increase the temp. and my spark plugs by NGK were 5 on the "heat range", but if you change the air/fuel ratio it can either lower or raise temp. My real question I guess is what are some ways to ensure the life of the spark plugs and my engine while increasing performance.

In my experience, there isn't much magic to keeping spark plugs alive longer. Assuming your engine is healthy and you have a good seal on your piston rings, it's pretty much just a matter of keeping proper air/fuel ratios and using the correct plug for your application. I run a blower, so I use a plug that is one or two heat ranges below stock. Keep my AFR normalized, and the plugs live for a really long time. On a naturally aspirated motor, bumping your timing a few degrees should not necessitate a plug change.

Thank you, with updating my X4 last night it downloaded 80 files and then encountered an error. Disregarding it i tried to adjust the timing and now the device won't let me advance it... only "retard" the timing. Chatting with sct support over email to hopefully get this resolved.

Well apparently with the new update they got rid of the option to advance timing for liability issues.