i have a 1986 F-150 4X4 on 33's the engine is a 302 with the MPFI and duraspark ignition. i have one of those fancy expensive timeing lights that tells me the dwell and rpms and whatnot the chilton manual i have for it tells me do unplug a wire comming off the distributor and then check the timeing with the tranny in netural. and set it to like 5 BTDC (dont recall the exact setting but i set it to what the book said) when i first checked it i was near 15 and it ran pretty good but started hard. i replaced the spark pulgs, cap, and rotor b4 setting the timeing. im used to the good ole carb and points setup but it dosent seem to have as much get up and go if i hit the passing gear on the freeway as it did b4 the timeing adjustment.

extra info:
engine is 2 years old with about 30,000 miles tranny, and transfercase were replaced with new units also. front and rear axles were rebuilt.
engine is a ford crate 302 ordered from the factory as a new engine. i replaced the fuel injectors with these http://store.summitracing.com/partde...MS%2DM9593C302
during the replacement. after the orginal muffler fell off i replaced the cat and muffler with a flowmaster single pipe kit. i regualry change the oil around 6,000 miles and tune up only when it seems to need it (about 4 times in 30,000 miles) any suggestions on the timeing should it be at 15 BTDC? my dad seems to think that the engine is over the hill now and will only get worse preformace wise. i can easily do 110MPH on these fine Cali freeways just takes a bit more to get there now.

 

If your engine was hard starting you had too much adv. but I would only retard it at small increments 1or2 deg. at a time until it started easier. Actually you might try timing it by your vacuum , it's very good for most engines. You put a vacuum gauge on your vacuum tree and adv. the timing until you get the highest reading and then retard the timing until the gauge drops 1in. and set the timing there, I've never had a engine fail to run well using that method. Each engine is different that's why factory specs don't always work best.

 

Iv'e always run 10*-14* intial with good results on 289's, 302's, and 351's.

 

ill try the vaccume idea, i have a guage on my car that dosent run i have been meaning to install it on my truck now i have a good reason