hi, I am finally getting my engine to run on all 8 cylinders. found a bad spark plug. I borrowed a friends timing light, I have been told by numerous people to set initial timing at 14 degrees before top dead center. well the other day I tried that and the engine runs like crap. I found that if im about 30 btdc it runs much better. almost drivable. any ideas? 302 fresh rebuild trickflow 170 heads, 1.6 rocker arms, trickflow stage 1 cam, single plane mpfi intake, fast ezefi ecu, 24lb injectors, 43lbs fuel pressure on return type fuel system. summit racing (msd knockoff) no vac distributer, msd 6a ignition box. double roller timing chain, set to 0 degrees. im using the original 97 mercury mountaineer balancer with the crank position sensor as my timing marks. (could this be an issue due to it being from a edis setup) when I have the timing way up, it runs, I get an off idle stumble, but runs fine, not much power. thanks
i doubt the crank position sensor lines up with the timing marks on the balancer. the stamped steel timing pointer is usually about 1/2" further up than where the pick up sensor boss is. now ive never kept the explorer front end on the motors ive used so im not 100% on this but your numbers support this. i would get a timing pointer from a distributor equipped motor and put it on to check timing with.
two things im going to try tomorrow. im going to set the timing via vacuum, using that method, and see if it jives. second thing I've been reading, I guess the trickflow cam likes 850 - 950 rpm for idle. which im currently about 700 to 750 rpm.
Ditto on getting a timing tape and pointer located on it, the 'sploder ring is just that, a ring, not timing marks. It also used a cam position sensor in the distributor hole for the coil on plug ignition. Does that ECU control the timing ? Or is the timing a separate function via the MSD ?
