Ok, im putting the finnishing touches on my project truck. Bare with me b/c im new to the timing world.
I have a 351m with edelbrok intake, 4 brl. w/ headers and straight pipes, no cats/muffs. I have striped all of the emissions. The valve cover says 14 deg. btdc @ 800rpm max. Is that the deg. i should use even without emissions? Is the 800rpm max suposed to be before the vacuum adv is unhooked & plugged?
Also, in the book it shows the timing indicator on the block with btdc, tdc, and atdc showing on it, my truck only has one little point braket to go off of, am i right in assuming that the point is for btdc?
I have played with this some already, i can't seam to get the pingging to go away, it seams to idle alot smoother the more i advance it, im not sure if thats good or bad.
My distibutor cap seems to not be real tight, is that ok? i put a new base and cap on it in hopes to tighten it up, but it just seems like it needs a gasket under it or somthing(has less than 1/4in play).
Sorry for the long post, If anyone can help me out or had similar instances please reply. Thanx in advance-kevin. This site rules!!
Last edited by carova_kevin : 11-12-2005 at 11:52 PM.
I don't know what book you're looking at but it's incorrect. On the 351M/400 there is a single indicator on the block and the degree marks are on the damper itself. 0 indicates TDC and the numbers on either side indicate the degress before or after TDC. The numbers to the right of 0 if you were sitting in the drivers seat are ATDC, numbers to the left are BTDC.
The correct way to time the engine is to get the engine warmed up, set the RPM to specs just as the engine would be when driving and then pull the vacuum hose to the distributor off and plug it with a golf tee or something similar. Set you timing to specs and then reconnect the vacuum hose. Check your RPM again and readjust as necessary.
Keep in mind your distributor is designed to operate with the emissions equipment in place, specifically the EGR. It's going to take some experimentation to get the initial timing set right now that the emissions equipment has been removed. You may have trouble trying to get the ping to completely disappear because of the way your timing advance is curved.
The book did not spcifically show the 351m. thats why i asked.
I set it again today and had much better results. i have it at the stock 14 deg.. It dosent seem to have the most power as it did at one point of my guessing strategy, but it does run nice and smooth now.
It also has a hesitation if i really step on the gas, is that typical with an older motor & carb, or should i try a couple of degree change, if so higher or lower deg.
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