Hey everyone, I'm doing everything I can to get more MPGs out of my truck (89, 302, 2x4, AOD, 3.55LS), So I did the timing bump. I have Accel 8mm wires, copper core Autolites (2 sets, one about 4 or so years old with 10k miles on them, gapped at .050, and a new set at .055), MSD 8227 Coil, MSD cap and new rotor.

In a previous thread, I was having rough idle issues, which was corrected with a new (not motorcraft...I'll get there) distributor. No it was not a reman. No matter what I do, I get pinging, even at 10* BDTC. I switched the plugs from the old .050 to the new, .055 and it's better, but still there. I figured that it was my distributor's problem. The reason my old distributor went out was the bearings would drag. So, I figured that swapped the PIP and stator into the new distributors housing would be for the best, so I did. My Haynes and the google said that the distributor gear only fits one way and not to worry. Well mine must be weird or something, because the pin goes in no matter how the gear is situated (using the old gear from the motorcraft dist.). Even on the old distributor shaft. I look at the distributor gear and I can tell that there is a difference, the hole on one side is over a tooth, whereas on the other it's in between a tooth. I put it back together not paying attention, only because the pin went in fine, i thought I got it right first try. Truck ran like crap, so I brought it to tdc, and realigned the rotor, etc...I have it running better than before, but not very much at all. The whole time I have beenrunning it at 10btdc to make sure it'll run at least there, but I bumped it to 13.5 just to see what it would do, pinged worse, but not all so much. I've followed this very closely, and when I have all lights out and rev the truck, I see no cross firing.

Tomorrow I'm going to pull the number one spark plug and make sure that TDC on the harmonic balancer is really tdc, and also make sure that distributor\harmonic balancer are on the same page. I suppose it is possible that my timing chain might have stretched, but the truck only has 67,000 on it and when I'm setting the timing, the marks on the harmonic balancer don't wander, it's very steady and consistantly in the same spot. Anyone have any other ideas or input regarding the distributor gear\timing? thanks for any help

 

Ok i got it running, but once it got up to temperature, the distributor started shaking and I heard a squeaking. I shut it down right way and pulled it, the gear looks good, but it was smoking from inside the block where the distributor goes in. Anyone have any ideas?

Edit: I have the distributor out, and am comparing the stock gears\shafts etc. I can say beyond any shadow of a doubt that the hole for the gear is not off center. It's literally right in front of me. I've determined that the hole in the shaft does line up with the direction the rotor is pointing, but unfortunately that doesn't help me with which way the gear needs to be installed. I've literally spent hours and hours searching forums and pictures to try and find one where i can see how the gear is put on and which direct the rotor is pointing, with no luck.


Edit 2: If you can't tell, this is driving me NUTS!

 

I've STILL been looking all around for a picture of the gear, and ebay of all places had something.

I can see the scrws at the top, and I can also see the original roll pin hole (this pic is a reman one). I can also see the gear orientation, so I was able to see how it needs to line up. Anyone have any feedback on the pinging issue?

 

from my own experience If you advance the timing past 10btdc you will need to run the highest octane gas so as the ignition wil not pre detonate (ping), you probably need to retard the timing back to the factory 10btdc and set the plugs to the factory specs which should be 43 to 45 thousands, run a couple tanks of 92 octane. I would also recheck the wires to make sure they are installed on the proper spark plug, it is so easy to cross one (happens to me every time). By the way the dist looks normal from what I see in the picture. On my pickup I have found that thew battery also need to fully charged for the truck to run and the distributor to act properly.

 

Thanks for the reply, I actually got it running relatively decent. I have it ~12btdc right now and no pinging that I can hear, but it may start to ping a little. I'm also upgrading to a 3g alt later tonight, but i doubt that'll have much of an impact, my idle voltage is around 13.8ish, which is still in the green, but not perfect.