I went to recurve my distributor today and I did a baseline bbefore I started. My initial I had set at 10btdc and then I plugged the vacuum line and took it up 500 rpm at a time and it only got 20 total which I guess is what one of the stops is set at but it got it all in by about 2000 rpm. I stopped there until I found out what seems to work best. I have a 400 with a dynamic cr of 7.7:1. I remember reading somewhere that these engines like alot of total advance and early. I'm sure 2000 rpm is too early so someone must have been in this dist before. What is a good total and when?

 

It sounds like your vacuum advance isn't working. When you plugged it in it should have went off the scale. You want as much advance as you can get as quickly as the engine will take it without detonating. It's hard to guess how much and how quickly, there are too many factors involved. Its a lot of work to keep dissasembling the factory dist to adjust the centrifugal total advance, and spring rates. It will be trial and error. And it's been my experience that if the engine is all origional or hasn't had much changed that the factory setting is going to be pretty close.

 

With the vacuum connected at idle it was at about 50 something, so it appears to be working, but I have a new one I got from Crane that I'm going to install when I do this work. The engine has a Crane 941 cam with roller rockers, headers, Performer intake and Edelbrock carb.

 

i have a 400 mild built what distributor coil would be best. or would the stock distributor work with a recurve and aftermarket coil. just looking for the best setup. thanks for your help

 

The consensus around here seem to be that the Duraspark system from ford is more than adequate for a street vehicle. That's what I'm using and it seems fine.

 

tastyklair
When you say 20 total I'm not sure if you mean total advance or actual timing as read on the crank. I think you ment the first.
My dist curve looks like this
14 initial, +2 at 1200rpm, +10 at 1500, +20 at 2300 and +22 at 2800
So 36 total mech adv, which seem like a lot but I trust my builder. I'd add more initial (4?) and see if it pings and at what rpm. Your curve might not be too far off and sounds stock to me. My stock 351 wouldn't take much more than 32deg total before it started to ping at 2600-2800rpm.
You can see my engine specs here
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...d.php?t=297908
I don't have this motor running yet so I can't tell you how it works but I can tell you that the guy that built this motor and curved the dist is one of the best ford guys out there. He builds with a reliability over hp mentality. He has put together several stroker motors for my dad and they have been reliable high hp motors. The guys my dad races with have tried to run motors at similar hp level and theirs have blown in one or two seasons. My motor guy is the best their is in CO IMO but it comes at a price because like to over build by mosts standards. He also curved the dist knowing I wanted to run reg fuel and get the best mileage
possible.

CoachRobb
I gotta agree with tastyklair. Ford ignition parts should work pretty well. The dist might benifit from a recurve but other than that I think aftermarket parts are going to be a lot of $ with very little HP gain, for a mild engine like yours anyway. An adjustable aftermarket vac advance would help you dial in the most partial throttle timing for better fuel economy. Crane sells one for ~$30.

If some one could post some stock man and Auto curve #s it would be appreciated.

 

My boo boo. I meant that I was showing 20 degrees mechanical advance. I've been running around 10 initial wich would give me 30 total. I am assuming my mech advance is on the side that says 10L, thus the 20 degrees. I would also assume that the other side is either 13L or 15L, which if I flipped it would give me either 26 or 30 degrees mechanical and I would probably have to back off my initial some. I do have the Crane cannister I'm going to install when ever I figure out what seems to be the best total to shoot for with this engine.