HEI distributor in a 351 W engine-- rotor pointer location for # 1 plug -- firing order 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8-- counter clock-wise
Anywhere you want it. Just start from where the rotor is. But, really. HEI in a Ford? Those things are bad enough buried in the back of a Chevy but right up front? With the Duraspark, at least you have the option of running a small cap to at least pretend to be period correct.
remove plug #1 hold your thumb over the hole... bump the engine over little at a time, when it blows your thumb off that is the compression stroke, back the engine over a little to TDC of that distributer loab... put the plug into the wire boot, hold [ground] against the block, turn the dist. slowly, you will see the spark...that should line up the engine and distributer... ... but... i would run a "pertronics" because with any problem you can put yours points and condenser back in to get home...
Typically the rotor location in a newer stock Ford V-8 would be at the 1 o'clock position for #1 cylinder. The vacuum diaphragm should point straight at you or slightly to the left with about 8-10 degrees of advance.
The basic rule of thumb on about any motor is that the rotor should point at the number one plug when one is firing. Number one on a 351 W should be pass side front plug and the distributer turns counter clockwise.
I said rule of thumb and what I said is what most mechanics will tell you. At least most of them that I have known in my lifetime. As in you have a car, you have a firing order and you don't have a book, rule of thumb. But you are correct in your assessment.
It doesn't matter where it points because it will run but you do have to point it someplace and at #1 makes the most sense. This girl s a ford which means firing order really different so it's best to get the book out anyway
" remove plug #1 hold your thumb over the hole... bump the engine over little at a time, when it blows your thumb off " go to the hospital.
Another diagram, One thing that has always burned my biscuits is following behind some clown who just stabbed the distributor and matched #1 wire up to where ever the rotor pointed on top compression of #1 cylinder without clocking the rotor to the right spot on the firing order. It isn't that hard to do it right. Sloppy Jaloppy gave the right instructions or close to them in post 3. I used to have a contest every year in my autoshop classes when we were doing the tune up and ignition phase where they started with the distributor and cap laying on top of the engine and had to pull #1 plug, crank the engine and bring it up on #1, drop the distributor in, lock it down in time. put the cap and wires back on and plug back in and fire it up. Most teams of two got to where they cold do it in under a minute. The engine was a Ford 289 in a training engine/test stand. It isn't rocket science to do it right. On the Hei, I have no issue with that as usually they work much better than most distributors, they are real easy to trouble shoot and if you do need a part the parts can be found at any parts house.
Ran a Gm style HEI in my 5.0 powered Morris Minor. Trouble free. what's the problem with HEI ? It's not a Ford distributor ? Neither was my heads aftermarket aluminum, aftermarket intake, aftermarket carb. Aftermarket cam. If it's not a restoration, so what .
Never put a turd in the punch bowl . A GM dist . in a Ford engine , dura spark is just as good and its a Ford !
There was one(by previous owner) in my F1 with SBF . I was wondering why this thing don´t perform ??? Put the dizzy in SUN machine and NO mechanical advance ! Reason : That ugly thing is all chevy inside and in chevy it rotates clockwise and Ford rotates counterclockwise. So only thing that was advancing was vacuum when in cruise. It´s in trashcan now !
They look better and don't fry the coil. The ones from the early '80s had a tendency to cook the control mod though. I think when people are talking HEI for a Ford (or any other motor for that matter) they are talking about the ones built specifically for that motor not a modified GM HEI. Generally speaking that is. Aside from the looks the GM HEI is a smogger motor distributer. It is work to make one actually "perform". By my way of thinking you are way better off with an old points distributer than a GM HEI, and just need to learn to tune one up.
I suppose all of the thousands of small block Chevy swaps should be reversed and flatheads or Y blocks put in. Must keep a Ford a Ford. You guys are funny , I used my car as a daily driver for 2 years. At car shows nobody ever said anything bad about it having an HEI type distributor. In fact several people asked how it worked and where they could get one. Even at the turkey rod run in Daytona. I once ran a G/Gas Pontiac with a small block Chevy , a Ford top loader , and a Chrysler Dana 60. You use what works. Oh , by the way my 5.0 powered Morris Minor with that terrible performing HEI ran high 11's on 89 octane pump gas and got 20 mpg on the highway with a 4.11 gear and an AOD trans. Checking the timing with a light, the advance worked just fine. Got mine from Summit. Ran an HEI for years in a limited late model dirt track car with a locked advance aftermarket module and coil turned it 7200 every lap.
For those that do not know they make HEI for a Ford engine, it gives it a real nice clean look no ugly looking coil setting there and are very, very dependable and easy to replace parts, much nicer then any original set-up look--Thanks for all your help
Just get a nice HEI, they work great. If your question is where #1 is ford is Goofy and. Calls the right front cylinder #1. Mark crank at 0 then do the thumb trick verify that's where it's at and go. If your worried about the large cap there are mini cap hei's. Sent from my XT1585 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I run an HEI in my Ford. Hot rodding is about running the best. It's the best. Being brand-loyal is the antithesis of hot rodding. Unless you are getting sponsorship money, you have no business being brand loyal.
Spinning the distributor the wrong way the mechanical unit would still work but it would retard not advance.
There is a fix for that, I hope you didn't literally throw that distributor away. The Chevy distributor rotation is CW and the advance will be CCW so what is needed is to switch the distributor cam for one from a Buick, Pontiac or Olds HEI distributor, all of which spin CCW. Looking at the photos you see the number 534 which for this dist. cam tells us that the total advance available is 34° and it is for clockwise advance rotation having come from a 455 Pontiac. The second photo shows the advance slot which will be a different length on a cam stamped 522 for example which might be used to your advantage depending on the desired total advance. You could limit total advance with a shorter slot thereby allowing more initial advance.
Well, if you have another solution to running a GM 7-pin module that controls an EFI system, in an early, small-bore Falcon block, with a early 1/4" oil pump drive, without having to spend all the money for it, and then leave it un-warranty-able because of the 4-5 hours of careful lathe work, then let me know.
Thats NOT the way it works!!! Especially in a chevy V8 application. Spinning against rotation wont advance OR retard . Retard is a positive stop and the weights cant go that direction. Hold a chevy dist ( example) by the gear and turn the rotor in the advance position , then try to turn the rotor to retard. HOWEVER on a FE 390 Ford the weights will swing out and try ( not very well) to retard the timing. BUT the real problem is the rotor phase (firing at the correct position with the dist cap) is off approx 20 plus degrees which would cause major problems. See what ya did ! I Just had one on the tester and flipped it backwards against rotation. So spinning them against rotation in most cases will not work....
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