I have a 1979 F350 with a 1978 F150 351M engine in it. I am going to start off by saying that I am an auto tech and have been woking at euro car dealers for my 7 years in the bussiness so I dont really know too much about this old stuff (carburators, distributors, pushrods, etc). I was having runability issues and originally thought it was the carburator, stalling when put into reverse/drive cold, erratic idle, hard starting, warm stall on decel that would not restart and so on. I put a carb rebuild kit in it and converted the electric choke to manual, but still the same issues. While tinkering last weekend I noticed that the vacuum line from the distributor was going to manifold vacuum, and I thought back to school thinking it should be going to ported vacuum so I took a quick look at the distributor and found that the vacuum section was rusted solid. Now looking at this distributor it appears that it has a mechanical advance and a vacuum retarder, which confused me slightly, so I am not sure where that vac line should go. I got a reman distributor and have yet to install it. Like a fool I took the old one out without marking it and have to now find top dead and all that jazz to drop it in. I need to know what degree I should time it to, at what rpm and if I should have the vac line off the dist and where the heck it goes. There are 2 ports on the bottom of the carb and they have a hose going to each other that seems like a likely candidate, but all the emissions are off and the under hood sticker is long gone, so I do not have much to go by. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

well free up the advance and the distributor connect the vaccum line to the bottom of the carb on one of the sides of the carb i cant remeber what side on a stock carb. and put a plug inthe other one. that should help out some. some one else might be able to tell you more without out looking at it.

 

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You can static time by getting number one on TDC, then turn the motor till you get about 12 degrees on the balancer, line up the rotor bug with number one, pu the cap on and turn on the ignition and use a timing light while turing the dizzy. You should get a flash.

 

this is correct, but when lining up number one make sure the pickup inside the dizzy is lined up with one of the prongs around the dizzy's shaft...then fire it up and put a timing light on it, unhook and plug the vacuum line, and set the timing at 12-14 degrees BTDC and test drive it, then u can adjust the timing by +- 2 degrees to suit your driving needs.....

BTW...some people run on ported vacuums, some on direct vacuums, i run mine on a direct vacuum and it works great...try both ways to see which works best for you........