I have a question thats been bothering me all night. I heard about stepping the timing forward on a 5.0/302 to improve power and fuel economy. What is the process behind this? I'm new to the engine side of things.

 

I believe the timing can be advanced 10-12 degrees, but what changes you will see in power and fuel mileage I don't know. I know basic procedures but I'm not sure on the exact process for a '94, so someone more knowledgeable than I should advise you on that.

 

You can't gain anything for free. Everything costs something. If you advance the timing, you may get a little bit more power, but your engine will have a higher tendency to pre-ignite, aka ping. Pre-ignition is bad and will lead to early engine failure. Sometimes you can hear pinging and sometimes you can't. So you might gain a little more power, but you risk severe damage to your engine.

Also, some engines will react differently than others. Some will get 3 or 4 degrees of advance, more power, and no pinging. Others you can't get a degree out of. I tried it on a truck I had and I couldn't get any more than an extra degree out of it before I could hear it start pinging.

 

Try this link. This is more than just a timing bump but it will be well worth the added power and the gas mileage gained will pay the parts off in now time.

FullSizeBronco.com - 78 - 96 Ford Bronco offroad club, forums, tech, installs

I did this and bumped my timing up to 12.5 with no knock, using 87 octane fuel.

 

12 deg. should be a good number, any higher you risk pre-ignition............not a good thing over the long haul.

 

you should look into other power addders to gain power, cam , intake, etc. and run a higher octane fuel than look into advancing the timing and pre igniting will not be a problem