Im running this 460 in my 1979 Ford Bronco with 38's. The cam i was told is so big that a brake booster had to be installed. Tonight when we went to time it we could not figure out how to time it. I would start the engine and you have to press the pedal a little to keep it running and keep doing that until it warms up. So it takes a few minutes to do this. The problem im having is if i give it to much gas i blow a fire ball out of the carb or smoke shoots out of the carb. The problem with the pedal is that it is very responsive. By barely touching the pedal the engine revs like crazy. I really have never had to floor it yet. If we turn the distributer clockwise the engine revs even higher. If we turn it counter clockwise it revs low and sounds like it will stall. We are only moving it less than an inch either way. Now the starter seems to slowly and i mean very slowly turn, like one to two cranks and then the car might start, sometimes needing gas. That doesnt seem right to me. I dont think it can be the timing but i could be wrong. Am i going to always have to give it gas until it warms up to keep it running or can i fix this. If i hook up the power wire on the tach to the radio or ciggarette lighter fuse what should the engine idle at for best performance. I like having to only touch the pedal a little to get this beast to really go but i dont like haveing to warm it up and blowing fire *****. Any help would be appreciated greatly.
Joseph
1979 Ford Bronco, 7 inches of lift, 38 inch swampers soon to be 44's, 460 big block, aka THE BEAST

 

If your moving the distributor, your affecting the timing. What year vehicle did this motor come out of? Find the year of the motor or year of vehicle and set the timing accordingly. You should'nt have too mess with the timing after that. Do you have a choke? Get the choke working properly and you should only have too mash the gas pedal ONE time to activate the ckoke. It should be idleing a little high until the engine warms up, then mash the gas again and the choke will release assuming the motos is warmed up. Have you adjusted the air\fuel mixtures on the carb.? Make sure there adjusted properly. You should be idleing somewhere around 6 or 8 hundred RPM's. Hope this helps, Keep us posted. Rob

 

oh yeah, somewhere around the harmonic balancer there should be a pointer, you line up the pointer with the correct degrees your year motor runs. Using a timing light of coarse. Good Luck. Rob

 

Have you checked initial timing to make sure the distributor gear hasn't jumped or sheared the retaining pin? Get #1 cylinder to the top of it's compression stroke and make sure the distributor rotor is pointed at the #1 spark plug with no slack.

 

#1 spark plug wire in the distributor cap.

 

Im not sure what year car the engine came out of. This bronco is brand new to me so im not sure what the specs on the carb should be. How do i get the cylinder to hit in the number one chamber.
joseph

 

The timing mark passes the pointer twice in the firing order.
Try bumping the engine over with the coil wire disconnected do the timing mark is at 0 degrees at the pointer.
Check to see if the rotor is pointing at the #1 cylinder position at the cap.
If the rotor doesn't point at the #1 position at either time the mark is at the poiner,you have to set it manually.
You can put your finger to plug the sparkplug hole and wait till it compresses and pushes your finger out (check the timing mark and pointer to see if it's aligned)or
can pull the valve cover off and check that both valves are closed aand the piston is at TDC at top of the power stroke.

if you don't understand this post .......
I'll send you to a web site article.

Dennis

Oh....Please Don't Ask Me Any Tough Questions As:
"I'm Saving Up MY Memory For When I Develop Alzheimer's"




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78 F-150 429CJ C6 ,Silver w/Explorer Pkge
641/2 Mustang,Pre-World's Fair Car #8092
64 Fairlane S/C waiting for a 390-4spd.
68-Mustang.Sunlit Gold 80,000 miles

 

okay i think i got the engine timed now. I had to clean the balancer to see the marks. However the marks say 1|0, 2|0, 3|0, the pointer points an inch or so passed 3|0, when i turned the distributer one way the pointer moved closer to the marks, however if i go passed 3|0 towards 2|0 then the engine seems to want to stop, when i went the opposite way the engine seemed to shake a lot more so moved it back until it seemed smooth. So far it has worked, however the starter still seems to turn very slowly when i turn the key. Do you know what could be causing the starter to do this.

Joseph

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 26-Jan-02 AT 07:15 PM (EST)]Are you sure the distributor isn't ONE tooth off when it was installed?
or am I mis-understanding what you're saying about where the pointer
is pointing?
What happens when the timing mark is where it is supposed to be?


Clean BOTH battery cables real good.
Make sure the battery is charged right up before assuming things besides bad connections.

Dennis

Oh....Please Don't Ask Me Any Tough Questions As:
"I'm Saving Up MY Memory For When I Develop Alzheimer's"




https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gallery/displaythumbnail.php?&photoid=144&.jpg
https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gallery/displaythumbnail.php?&photoid=143&.jpg
78 F-150 429CJ C6 ,Silver w/Explorer Pkge
641/2 Mustang,Pre-World's Fair Car #8092
64 Fairlane S/C waiting for a 390-4spd.
68-Mustang.Sunlit Gold 80,000 miles