I’ll try to make a long story short, 66 F100, original 352, it was rebuilt 20 plus years ago, ran great but had a massive coolant leak, I thought it was head gasket but it was from a intake bolt that was snapped off, it was parked and sat for 20 plus years, fast forward a couple months ago, took it to a friend of a friends shop to get it running again, all he did was yank the distributor, without marking where it was before he pulled it and let it sit, so I brought it back home, pulled the engine and went through it from top to bottom, replaced oil pump, pickup screen and tube, water pump, intake, intake bolts, head gaskets, head bolts, carburetor, fuel pump, all hoses, clamps, pulled and flushed fuel tank and fuel lines and new distributor, i also primed the engine before start up, I wanted a D.U.I because I’m running one on my 240 and it runs great, I also got there plug wires, I made sure the distributor has a full 12 volts, I put the distributor in at about 1:00 and fired it up, timed it where D.U.I recommends 12 btc and it wouldn’t get out of its own way it would pop and bang so I pulled it and put in at about 12:00 runs a little better but now it sits at about 32 btc and I can’t get it anywhere near 12 btc any advice on what I need to do or where to put the distributor so I can get it back on the road? I know it will run if I could just get the timing right

thanks for any help guys

 

Did you do the plug wires in the dizzy clockwise or counter clockwise? Ford Fe is counter clockwise.

 

They are counter clockwise 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8

 

And #1 plug is on the passenger side

 

Doesn't matter whose distributor you have, they all install and get initial timing done the same way.
First, triple check your wires - all too common that they aren't in the correct order on the dist, or aren't going from the dist to the correct spark plug. I've done that a few times.
Next, I'm not sure what you mean by 1:00 and 12:00. You should get the #1 piston at TDC on the compression stroke. TDC will be when timing mark 0 is on the pointer, but you need to verify it's the compression stroke. Then drop in the dist so the rotor points at the #1 spot on the cap when its all the way installed. (you can make some marks on the dist and cap to help line it up) That will get you close, then you should be able to time it to where you want. If you can't rotate it enough to get it timed, you may need to lift it and shift it one tooth.
IMO, 12 BTC is a bit advanced for starting out. I would go with something like 8 until you get a handle on the advance curve. Is it a Vacuum advance? If so, be sure to do initial timing with the vacuum plugged.

 

Yes and I have it on TDC and when I put the distributor in at almost 1:00 and start it, I’ll time it at 12 BTDC recommend by Performance Distributor, it runs horrible, stumbles, backfires, pops, bangs and won’t get out of first gear

 

The cap doesn’t have a #1 plug labeled on the cap so I’m not sure where 1 on the cap should be, I know on the stock cap they sit at roughly 1:00 and the vacuum advance is plugged for now

 

12 BTC is fine. It should run OK at that. Something else is wrong. is your timing light on the #1 spark plug? Does your timing light have and 'advance dial function' and is it set to 0? Are you positive #1 was on the compression stroke and not the exhaust stroke? What do you mean by 1:00? The rotor should point at the #1 position on the cap when installed. (You didn't remove the cam, did you?)

 

#1 on the cap is where the plug wire for #1 goes.
Meaning that is the rotor should point when #1 cylinder at tdc on compression.

 

The dizzy as a whole could care less where it is, it all comes down to the rotor is to determine what it fires. You might pull the dizzy and make sure that when the #1 is at TDC that the rotor is pointing at the 1 o'clock position.

 

No, cam wasn’t removed, internally everything was fine, by 1:00 I mean when it’s at TDC the rotor is sitting at about 1:00

 

1:00 doesn't matter. Forget about that. The rotor needs to sit at where the #1 position on the cap is.
Look at your cap When your cap is installed on the dist, where is the #1 wire? Use a sharpie and mark the outside of the dist. at the location the # 1 wire is. The remove the cap.
When you drop in the dist, the rotor should end up pointing at his mark. Then you'll be at 0 btc

 

I just found this - It's pretty clear instructions.
https://www.onallcylinders.com/2020/...nitial-timing/

Is your dizzy a vac advance unit?

 

Yes it is, ok, I get what your saying now, I should have realized that as soon as my kiddos get to bed I’m out to the garage to do some tinkering

 

Cool.
Again, triple check your wires and double check you're on the compression stroke. Remove the vac advance for initial timing.
The dist has no say in what the best timing is for your car - that's up to the cam, cam timing and compression, so don't take 12 as your goal since DUI said so. Often these things safely do pretty good at 10.
After you get initial done, you might attach a handheld vac pump to your dist advance and watch the 'curve' This will give you some insight. You can also rev it up and watch the mechanical advance curve