I'm going to make sure mine is correct when I do a distributor recurve. I figure on ten initial(balancer), 13l weight, and new springs. I figure on about 36 total does this sound about right?

 

Depends on the motor and what emissions stuff you still have on it or not.

I run my 300 six at 10 deg btdc, the mechanical advance puts about 16 more on it and I run with the vacuum advance disconnected for now because that puts another 15-20 on the dang thing. Knock central....

 

Good to know, its a man trans 4x4 stock 460.

 

there are also some vacuum pods that you can stick an allen wrench into the hose nipple and adjust how much total vacuum advance you get too.

I have run my initial up as high as 14-16 before, but that has alot to do with elevation too...

 

Although not specifically ignition timing related. About 10 ago I was mentioning my desire to run straight up timing in my 460 with a new timing chain. I was told that the stock gears (plastic/nylon IIRC) are fine and that should I run my cam and crank 12/6 with the new tchain straight up I am going to burn a hole in my valves because they will not line up. Anyway, they are ******* on my 460 and think I'm a stupid kid who doesn't know much. I guess we shall see, either my 10+ months of learning about 460's from other owners doesn't count for anything, or they are genius' who know about every motor hahaha.

 

I am running a custom curved Duraspark distributor from Performance Distributors. This distributor was curved using my engine size, transmission, weight, cam, carburetor size, and what emissions components I was running and any performance components I added.

The distributor is calibrated to 24 degrees at 3,000 RPM. Initial timing is set at 12 degrees BTDC. I have absolutely no ping and no hard starting.

 

The cam timing is built into the gear set. You can't "jump a tooth" and advance or retard the cam timing, that would be too much and it would not run correctly. We are talking very little adjustment to vary the cam timing, and you can get an adjustable aftermarket unit for most engines(don't know about the 460) or buy the early set for the 429. Do some web searching to get the right set.

Ignition timing is a very experimental type thing. There are so many variables. I know this company that sells distributors "custom curved" are taking a stab at it, but there is no way they can get it exactly right. To get it perfect, you need to know a lot about engines, and have a distributor machine to set the curve. This is all old time stuff that is really a lost art since computer controlled ignitions are what everyone uses now.

If I was worried about my timing curve, and wanted to do some home seat of the pants experimenting, the first thing I would do is get rid of the Ford distributor. There is nothing wrong with it, but it's too difficult to take it apart and vary the springs, weights, and stops. To do this and get any benefit, you need to take the dist apart dozens of times to get it just right for your vehicle/engine combo.

 

I've got a "performance" double roller chain with the gear sets coming in the mail. I was mentioning that to my uncle and the neighbor today as they were helping me work on my pickup, and they said that "there is nothing wrong with the nylon gears, if you change your oil", and that "it won't matter if I run straight up timing anyway, because I will burn valves as my cam isn't set up for that." Near as I can tell its a bolt in and go affair in terms of that, although they have 30+ years of mechanics between them and I have about 5 or less. Any truth to this?

 

Lot of people have their own "nothing wrong with that" point of views. A lot of people have had great results with running straight up double roller setups, I hope your goes well.

I picked up an extra distributor to fool with, but the more trouble I have getting it right, the more I want to just get a DUI dizzy for my 300.

 

Yeah those are nice. I really hope that this 460 keeps on trucking for a while, I popped the valve covers the other day and they sure are clean in there.

 

I have met plenty of elder mechanics that have solid opinions about stuff that are not really true, or at least not really true anymore (especially with emmisions egr valves, cats and so on). the nylon gears were done for noise, and for stock applications they usually outlasted the life of the car. however, you start mixing in a bigger cam and higher spring pressures it shortens the nylons life considerably.

he might have had an engine burn a valve after swapping to a non nylon, leading him to believe that the steel timing set caused it. that kind of stuff happens all the time. nothing against you uncle or your neighbor, but just because they have fixed cars for longer doesn't mean that they have all the answers. I take everything with a grain of salt, and then research it if i have doubts to double check what I was told.

another option is EDIS, I just got a megajolt controller for my capri and have high hopes for it. complete control of the ignition curve from my laptop. and it eliminates having to mess with the distributor weights and springs.

if you want a very technical and thorough insight into whats going on inside, check out "engine airflow" by harold bettes. he goes beyond just airflow and talks about timing(clear down to individual cylinder timing adjustments) and carbs as well alot of it was technical enough that I didn't completely understand untill the second time through. I got it for my kindle and plan on getting the hard copy for my library.

 

Stock timing on my 300 is 6 degrees BTDC.

It can be anywhere from 6 to 14 degrees depending on calibration code.

6fifty_f1fifty: does your vacuum advance line require a vacuum restrictor? Is it still in place on the vacuum advance line? Your emissions lable on the radiator support will tell you if you are supposed to have a vacuum restrictor in the line. Marked, "VREST" on the diagram. These can look like a small vacuum hose splice. They are color coded for the amount of restriction needed. If this "VREST" vacuum restrictor is missing, this could be the cause your pinging. The one on my vacuum advance line is orange.

 

Appreciate the info guys, I may send mine out to MP to get er done. A funny note about today, my uncle and neighbor were out there and I fired her up. It was running rough so some carb changes were made and it was determined 1/8 wires were switched. My uncle got in there and told me the drivers side is 1357 and 2468 on the drivers side. I looked at the book (and even before I knew he was wrong) he said "You'll learn this stuff one day." Well I just sat back and we wired it like he wanted nothing wouldn't fire. He changed it another time and couldn't figure out why in the hell it wasn't firing. I said "Well maybe you will listen to a "college kid" like me and learn that books are not all bad. We switched the wires to 1234-5678 as the book labeled the cylinders, and it fired ride up and idled around 1k. That made my day right there.