I was talking to a fella I work with the other day, he is working on a early Mustang with 289 non HiPo, he was having a hard time getting it started, I let him use an old chiltons manual I have which has all the info on the 289, he wanted the firing order. Long story short, he told me that the 289 had three different firing orders and the one in the book was not the one he needed. Said he ended up going on line and finding the right firing order, is this true about the number of different firing orders for the 289 or is his brain starved for oxygen?

 

He's wrong. There was only one firing order for a 289, that is 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8. Distributor turns counterclockwise. Ignore the factory timing specs (6*BTDC) and set it to 10-14* BTDC, if it pings, use a higher octane fuel or back off the timing til the pinging goes away.

 

Maybe he installed a cam meant for a 351W, with a different firing order.

 

Thats what I was thinking that someone had changed the cam , But he says its stock, working on it for a friend, now lets say it is stock, how many different firing order configurations are there for a stock 289 and will a cam from lets say a 351w work in a 289, same size cam bearing journals?
Thanks baddad didn't see your reply

 

Yes, the cams for 289/302 will interchange with 351, with the exception that the firing order MAY be different. There are a lot of aftermarket cams made for the 302 that the manufacturer claims will work in a 351 if you changed its firing order.

The other thing I've see is a distributor that was not installed properly, so that its timing was way off, but the owner compensated for it by rotating the spark plug wires around the cap. The order is the same, but the post on the cap marked "1" has a wire going to either cylinder 8 or 5.

 

new to the forums - excuse my edicate......
I am building my 289 frd motor with 302 heads. I couldn't get the timing right, now I find the cam I wa sold is for a 351. If I change the firing order, it is suppose to work. What will the difference be? I asked for a marine cam, this is what they sold me, and I don't want to open the lower end again if not necessary. yoiur thought?

 

The standard 289/302 firing order is 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8.

If they gave you a cam for a 351 or a 302 HO, the firing order is 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8. This would be how you will have to change the spark plug wires to on your distributor cap.

 

excellent....
Thanks for the quick response.

I was just concerned becuase of the stroke difference in the two. If this would have any effect of the cam, or if the crank sprocket would be what made the difference....