Im lookin to upgrade my distributor. My stock one is getting worn out and is in need of replacement. I have a 1991 f250 with a 5.0l 302. Does any one have any idea of which brand I should go with. Or where to get it at a good price? Thanks

 

The stock distributor is not a bad piece IMHO. The rebuilt units can be troublesome, I would suggest a new Motorcraft replacement.

 

Ok how much are those usually?

 

Rockauto.com carries new Motorcraft distribtors for ~$55 USD.

 

I didn't believe it, so I had to check for myself. But I believe those are only for manual transmissions. I did some quick checking and Lil Red Sled has an E4OD.

If anyone with a manual transmission and a, I believe, 1991 and older fuel injected 302 with the module mounted on the side of the distributor is in need of a distributor go to rockauto.com and go to the catalog and see if this will fit your vehicle. This is some kind of closeout, so don't wait too long.

 

I was not aware there is a difference in distributors for auto vs. manual transmission equipped trucks in this vintage. If there is a real difference, can someone elaborate?

 

X 2 ...Never heard of that ??

 

Thanks Lew, I thought I missed something here....

 

The only issue I know of is the TFI mounted on the dizzy or the remote mounted TFI...5.8
EIther way, unless the aftermarket dizzy say made in USA on it, forget it. MSD, Acell, all those idiots sell china junk. Yes, FOMCO might be china too, but quality control has been in place. Racers use the stock dizzy and TFI and run 9sec passes...coil and all.

 

I have also never heard of different dizzy for standard or automatic trans, just TFI location. I would go with a Motorcraft one.

 

The only difference I know of is some have octane rods and others do not.
Octane rods come in different lengths and if you want to run a higher octane fuel you can change the timing without a timing light for so many degrees advance. Then if you do not like the results you can change the timing back without ever moving the distributor by putting the old octane rod back in.

Some say an octane rod changes the timing curve but I do not know how this is possible.

There is very little to nothing about this in the Ford Shop manuals or on the Internet.

 

x2 ...mostly unanswered questions and I'm here to add to those dumb
questions. LOL :)

Sub, your post was referenced over on FSB and so I looked into this
mess and there are two different types of distributors shown in the '91
Ford Truck manual...
1) Open Bowl
2) Closed Bowl

The difference -looks- to be the Closed Bowl has no Octane Rod hole.
{shrug}

The three distributors I own in this "era" all have Octane Rods...
'91 5.8 F150 SC E4OD (May of '91)
'90 5.8 F250 ZF ^8800
'91 5.8 Bronco E4OD (July of '90)

What the length is on the rods I don't know yet but will look into that
someday. :)

Alvin in AZ
ps- Looking like I'm going to have to put dry-ice around the distributor
to get the dangged thang out of the F250 Parts truck. :)

 

Open and Closed Bowl distributors have to do with the mounting of the ICM on the truck.
Remote mounted ICM work with Closed Bowl Distributors and Open Bowl distributors have the ICM mounted on the Distributor.