My friend has a Ford Truck with a 352 FE. Ran great, but he had to mess with it. His UTI-graduate buddy (works on new German vehicles) changed out the plugs, wires, cap and rotor. The distributor is vacuum, and had can only be put on one way. Pertronix conversion. They said they didn't touch he position of the dizzy. Like I said, it ran great BEFORE they touched it. They pulled ALL the wires off and went off the Factory Service Manual for that vehicle. I went over, timing gun in hand, and tried to start the truck. After endless cranking, checking firing order, pulling everything off and starting from scratch, and charging the battery about 4 times, I decided to think outside the box. Told my buddy to get online, look up "352 FE TIMING" and click on anything that says "Jalopy Journal" I came up with an illustrated distributor diagram that showed the plugs boots (on the cap) installed 180 degrees out from what the service manual showed (and how we currently had it connected). The new and old caps even had a "1", showing where it should be (7:00), but not where this new diagram told us to start (1:00). There is only 1 way to install the cap. Like NORMAL Fords, the new diagram said to install #1 plug wire at the 1:00 position. Makes sense. Can the Service Manual be wrong, or did I screw something up??? What difference does it make? Firing sequence is same order, just not same clock position....I'm dumb at ignition. Any schooling will help. I figured that I might as well try it. SOMETHING has to work. Hooked everything up. Hit the key, and it fired on the first bump. The HAMB always prevails! So, it's running. I decide to check timing. I'm at sea altitude. The Service Manual said to set timing at approx 6 degrees. I pointed the light at it. The light is at about 30 degrees. Hmpf...HAMB thread said to go up to 12 degrees, due to modern fuel...so, I shut if off and (since I could barely see the old marks) took a Sharpie, and marked pulley at 12 degrees BTDC. Cranked it, and the light still hits wayyyy past 12 degrees BTDC. Could something be off internally? I messed with the timing for a while. It idles great, but when I pull it out to drive, if i touch the gas more than a VERY light tap, it sputters and coughs. Mess with timing more. Checked vacuum lines. It was junk. Tried driving again, same thing. Took can of carb/choke cleaner. Discovered the was NO gasket between carb and intake...guess that explains that. How do I get the timing where it should be after gasket replacement? Leave it alone? What say you? Sorry for the long read...been a long day! Thanks in advance. Will try to find the links I mentioned earlier.
ok heres what i had to do on my old y block due too the fact it was without any timing marks ... start at top dead center make sure by pulling number one plug and manually checking it .... i assume you know how to do that so then pick where you want your number one wire on the cap make sure your rotor is pointing there you can manually turn over the motor by hand with the key on with the plug on the number one cylinder out make sure its sparking right before TDC .... make a new timing mark if you have too then make sure your firing order is correct ... it should run fine you can probably flucuate 15 degrees in either direction ok so i reread your problem hahaha it sounds like the dist. gear is one tooth retarded slowly pull the dist out with the cap off watch as the rotor will start too move then try too advance it as you slide it back in i think if you are physically out of adjustment then you can bring your timing back id say 30 degrees that should put you where you need too be to hit your perfect 12btdc i actually removed my vacume ad vance and just run my car at say 15 or so its old and tired but runs great i used a petronix too ... 55 ford 272 y block just start with the fundamentals timing isnt hard just alot of possible varibles
ok i reread it again haha be sure too manually chack TDC for sure hold a screw driver in there or somethin feel for when it stops coming up the when it starts down say its in the middle hahah at least you can verify the factory marks with the advance it should be at like 8 to 10 degrees before tdc at idle then when revved it should move upto 12-16 somethin like that
I was thinking along the same lines. Thanks for the help and patience for reading that long post! I have a 292 Y Block that I'm getting ready to fire up, so this is good training for my junk! Thanks again, will post my findings as I get them . JL
it was connected the first time. Engine cold and warm. Came back the next day, disconnected it and tried everything over. I typed so much in the thread I left that pertinent bit of info out.
The Jalopy Journal
