Other than a Pertronix Ignitor installed in 1999, this is a stock 360 (at least as far as I know and can tell). Had a friend come over with his timing light so we could see if we can get it running better. Has always seemed to have a miss on #1. When we hooked up the timing light, you could see the strobe light skip right along with the miss in the system.

He had to leave suddenly so we put it up for the night, but what could be the cause of this? Not sure where to turn for this one. Could it be the coil or Pertronix unit?

I still have not gotten around to the plug wires (replace with cheap AZ brand ones in an emergency), new plugs(Autolight 45 gapped at 35), new cap and rotor (Echlin NAPA items).

I have a very short time to get this taken care of as I have another back surgery scheduled in three weeks and will be laid up for the next 3 months at the minimum. It has to be able to be started by the wife and boy and at least moved around the block and back dependably.

 

If you were still running points I would suspect the dizzy bearings to be worn. Running a Pertronix I think play in the dizzy wouldn't affect the pick up as much. You should start by replacing the plug wire as those were as you said cheap. Try the Motorcraft ones, they are good quality and not too spendy. Good luck with the back surgery and all.

 

Proceed with the above post, if the problem is not changed, you may have a bad distributor cap. Also a exhaust valve burned or not moving enough. Valve spring, push rod, or camshaft. Compression test recommended.
Good luck with the surgery.

 

Hmm if, I understand your post correctly, I'd say it sounds like your timing chain & gear may be in need of replacing.

But a loose upper dizzy bearing can cause the floating of a timing light, but like noted having a Pertronix unit this should not be happening. Unless not enough of a gap. From what, I was told no closer then 0.10ths. an not over 0.30ths. not any wider.

Orich

 

Swap the plug wire from #1 to another cylinder and see if the miss follows.

 

I am assuming the timing light does not flash at the moment it misses. I like the ideas above. I would also look at the inside of the Dizzy cap for a carbon track. If there it will look like a fine crack. The spark energy would follow that track to Dizzy housing ground rather than going to the spark plug.

 

Correct JEFFFAFA, the timing light confirms the miss on the #1 wire/cylinder. It matches it step for step, mis-fire and no light. It was an intermittant problem though and did not happen every time that cylinder should have fired. You could actually see the miss by just watching the strobe pattern flash when pointed at the fan shroud. Quite interesting.

I started with the distributor and the Pertronix unit. I pulled the cap (I had to put the factory one back on a couple of weeks ago as the NAPA one had a crack in it) and did some work. I cleaned the magnet on the shaft and set the air gap on the Ignitor unit. The ground wire was a little frayed so I made a new one and installed it. I also cleaned the bottom side of the terminals on the cap.

I also reset the timing. All of the work seemed to clear up a lot of the misfire. It is still stumbles every once in a while, but not nearly as often. Now I just need to get the carb dialed in a little better. I am going to replace the plug wires too due to the sketchy nature of them and I have another post going about replacing them, just didn't get to it yet as I was planning on going to the larger cap to space out the wires.

I suspect I have some head work that will need to be done, but right now it is back up and running. The heads and intake will have to wait until after surgery. I am going to check the compression out this weekend if I have some down time, but right now it is focusing on work around the house needing completion as back surgery will have me down for a few months.

The down time will probably just lead me to buying more fun parts. Lots of magazines and catalogs are piled and at the ready. It will give me time to read the Steve Christ How to Build Big-Block Ford Engines book too. Even though this truck only has 42K miles, it sat for a long time and has leaks everywhere that need my attention. If parts are coming off, new fun ones should go back in their place!

 

Sounds like Tim Allen if I ever heard it.
oo-oo-ooo-oo-oooooo!