Timing? 351

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extrayda, Aug 10, 10:41am
I was too slow to type the above, so ignore the bits about removing the choke !
jason18, Aug 10, 10:42am
Dizzy seems sweet. It has stopped backfiring now! It now doesnt stall when put in gear but wont drive nicely. So must still be timing. Plugs are black as hell!
jason18, Aug 10, 10:43am
All leads good and in right place. Timing seems to be around 20BTDC at idle so I think this may be to high.
thunderbolt, Aug 10, 10:44am
As above, if you are sure the firing order is correct, I would fire a new set of plugs at it.
Once they are fouled with the chemical nightmare we call petrol these days, they dont seem to recover.
extrayda, Aug 10, 10:47am
yep, at least try to give them a good clean.
Last set of plugs my Chev fouled caused it to run like crap and generally behave very badly.I tried cleaning them, which improved it, but it still wasn't right.Ran a new set of plugs in, and yahoo, all good. (initial problem was caused by weak spark from ignition system, then the plugs fouled and it was all bad from there.New ignition components and problem fixed, plus the car then started and idled much better too.
extrayda, Aug 10, 10:50am
VERY unscientific, but if you put your hand behind one of the exhaust pipes with the engine running and warmed up a bit, does the exhaust feel warm or quite hot (uncomfortable)! If hot, in my (NON EXPERT) opinion, it implied that the engine was running too advanced.The only real way to tell is a timing light.Even if you don't fiddle with the car much, it is still a very handy tool to have.
jason18, Aug 10, 11:24am
Yeah mate. I have a timing light now :) Exhaust exit under car so it feels hot anyway but I do believe its to advanced at moment. My new belt just arrived so will go get some new plugs etc and try it out. I reckon the manual choke was somehow feeding the carby to much fuel
hi-ling, Aug 10, 11:46am
Does your dizzy have a vacuum advance! if so check that you have the connection onto a ported outlet and not a constant vacuum, mucks them up something shocking
jason18, Aug 10, 12:57pm
Yeah have checked all that! Cheers.
splinter67, Aug 10, 1:08pm
Are you letting it get up to temp we had a hig perf 327 with twin 650 double pumpers on a offanhauser tunnel ram had a bugger of a time getting it to run right took it to a tuning expert (Butch Reid ex drag racer) he let it run for 20 mins before tunning it went like a rocket after that
jason18, Aug 10, 2:30pm
Yeah I am man. I think its just my plugs that are the problem now. They are as black as hell!
splinter67, Aug 10, 2:48pm
ok check that you have enough power going to the plugs check the spark is it bright not enough spark will cause the problems you have described
jason18, Aug 10, 3:25pm
Will do mate. Cheers
splinter67, Aug 10, 3:29pm
Good luckremember v8s rule
lookoutas, Aug 10, 3:42pm
You got new leads!
Start it up in the dark, and see if its Xmas yet.

My auto choke got wired open immediately. Just need to warm up a bit first, but that is the lesser of the problem from having it come on for miles too bloody long.

Black plugs seems to point at fuel mixture from carby.
snoopy221, Aug 10, 10:33pm
Other thing Jase is DOUBLE check your coil voltage to coil.
[Worth paying coin to a DECENT auto sparky-K.
Some fords run a ballast wire-and they get tired- firing problems show up cold.K]
(Simple easy fix is 12 volt coil and relay feeding it-again suss with a GOOD auto sparky)
jason18, Aug 11, 5:35am
Ok cheers guys. I have got it so it will idle and rev with no load. As soon as I start driving she wants to backfire. This is with the fouled up plugs. WIll get some new ones and try that. If no luck will take it somewhere
mopar63, Aug 11, 6:07am
had this very same problem with 2 different 318's Jason ,idled fine and when revs went on it missed and farted etc, I disconnected vacum advance and blocked it of and it ran sweet, ,try it it only takes 2 seconds ,never did bother to take it further as car ran fine but think the vac advance on dizzy was obviously crook, prob brokenadvance module spring and when the revs died down just the diaphragm pushed the advance 'lever back 'instead of being pulled back by the spring so was over advancing to hell
jason18, Aug 11, 6:20am
Oh true I will try this too! So thats the vacuum advance on dizzy. I will try it and get a new one if its the problem.
jason18, Aug 12, 4:43pm
New plugs in now and she seems to go well again!
extrayda, Aug 12, 4:58pm
Thats good news.My guess is your choke caused it to run rich, fouling the plugs (although it could be something else, you will know it's something else if the plugs foul again).Did you gap them!Did you get the same spec plugs that were already in it (you can get different temp range plugs, but I have never had to look into that, so don't know much about it).
I have had a couple of cars with 'hot' cams that didn't like being left to idle for too long (or repeatedly).If it's running well now, I'd take it for a decent trip somewhere to give it a bit of a run (by decent trip I mean some motorway travel for a while).
jason18, Aug 12, 5:26pm
Yeah man Will wait for the weather to fine up! Yeah it was the choke im pretty sure as all was fine before that prick was on. Plugs seem good now.
jason18, Aug 13, 10:09am
Hey man, Took her for a good burn today. Running mint apart from small stumble down low. Wondering if this is my timing now as it wasnt there before. We sussed it by taking to the carby guy. And from dead still if you floor it it backfires and dies. Is that to much fuel or to lean! Should I muck around with timing a little more! Would you advance or retard!
jason18, Aug 13, 10:10am
I timed her up to a previous white mark on the harmonic balancer 20* and about 35* at revs.
extrayda, Aug 13, 10:24am
Not sure on the carby - depends on the setup.
I had a very similar issue with mine, and it was due to getting too much air when you floored it.Increased the initial squirt of fuel when I stomped on the gas and it improved - from memory I think that was a change of the cam that activates the accelerator pump(s) on the carb.I think there are also two holes that you can use to adjust the angle of the cam on the carb itself.Different coloured cams give a different initial squirt of gas.You do need to be careful not to bottom out the pumps on the carb if you fiddle with this.I also ended up with bigger squirters on the carb.Not an expert in this area really though - so hopefully someone more knowledgeable comes along :-)