Just helped a buddy swap his built motor from his 86 into his 90... he bought an MSD billet dizzy, new plugs/wires etc.. and he got his intake back from the powdercoaters this morning, and is putting that on as i type. the question i have is, we both have haynes/chiltons, and want to make sure we have the timing right when we fire it up. the motor is sitting with #1 at TDC.... but where do we go from there.. i know the rotor has to be pointing in a certain direction, and it can be 180 degrees out and all that, but neither of us have messed with timing enough to just "know" thats what the problem is. how would you recommend we go about this? Thanks in advance for any help
Motor swap, timing questions
- Thread starter Busted07
- Start date
After you've made certain you are indeed at tdc, put the dist. in with the rotor pointing at the #1 cylinder on the dist. cap. It should be almost directly pointed at the firewall/center of upper intake runners. Have the ignition module roughly 1 1/2 inches away from the thermostat housing and snug down the hold down bolt for the dist., but leave it a little loose so you can rotate the dist. side to side as needed upon starting to help it fire.
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. 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 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.
At this point hook up all the wires, get out the timing light and start the engine. Set the timing where your car runs best. Don't forget to disconnect the SPOUT jumper connector when you set the timing, and plug it back in when you finish.
At this point hook up all the wires, get out the timing light and start the engine. Set the timing where your car runs best. Don't forget to disconnect the SPOUT jumper connector when you set the timing, and plug it back in when you finish.
Michael Yount
Mustang Master
Remember - there are 2 TDC's for a single distributor rotation. You have to have the #1 cylinder at TDC on the COMPRESSION/FIRING stroke. If you stab it at TDC on the exhaust/intake stroke, it won't start.
Michael Yount said:
thats the condition that tells you its 180 degrees out, right? we did it last night, and while he was turning the motor over, i was going in the firing order with my hand over each plug hole, and letting it poof the air out to make sure it was in the right order. im pretty sure we got it right. the first time we did it, #1 was poofing at the opposite side of the dizzy (rotor was facing away from #1) so i believe we had it 180 out, so we pulled, it, turned it, and redid everything, seemed like it worked fine. ill know when he gets this intake on, and we crank the sucker finally.. thanks again for all the help
