Timing on 289 in a 64 Galaxie 500 - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

tommyboy · 05-19-2009, 18:55

Hi, I'm new here and new to working on v8's. My timing is way off, I set it off the marking on the dist. cap and it is wrong. So I set the engine to TDC and the dist. button is pointed right at the # 1 spark plug. Is this right? This is my first Galaxie/V8/Ford. Any help would be GREAT.

Thanks.

**jwko** · 05-19-2009, 19:12

Make sure its at TDC on the compression stroke, not the exhaust stroke. Once you verify your on compression stroke, note the position of the rotor, put your #1 plug wire on the correct location on the distributor cap. Continue counter clockwise following the firing order 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8

tommyboy · 05-19-2009, 19:33

could my distributor be off 180?

**jwko** · 05-19-2009, 19:42

If it's spitting, sputtering & blowing flames out the carb, then it probably is.

If you haven't pulled the distributor & it's been running, then it's not 180 and more than likely out of time.

tommyboy · 05-19-2009, 20:05

I have only had the car for 3 weeks, and have not got her to run yet. First it was not turning fast enough, so I got a new battery and new battery cables. Then I poored some gas in the carb and would get it to carch for about 2 seconds and then it started back firing. I read that ment the plug wires were wrong. So I reset them according to the (1) on the distributor cap. That was way off. So I'm trying to figure out how it was before, I found a diagram somewhat like the one you gave me showing plug wire 1 being one terminal from the back clip, that wasn't it either.

I'm starting to think that is was installed 180 out because of the hard line that comes in the front of the distributor (see above picture).

**jwko** · 05-20-2009, 02:23

If you think it's 180 out, move your #1 wire straight across on the distributor cap from where it is now, then continue counter clockwise in firing order.

If it's been setting a long time, you might need to have the carburetor looked at. It could also cause similar problems.

tommyboy · 05-20-2009, 04:31

A friend said the plugs could be fouled out too, (Bosh). I just ordered "How to rebuild your small block Ford" so I'll do some homework and keep you posted,

Thank you again for the help.