whats up guys, i recently dropped a 5.0 out of a 91 stang into my boat. The problem im having is my water pump is not the factory 5.0 pump, the lower hose exits on the passenger side so i need to find a timing pointer that bolts to the drivers side instead. Any ideas? Thanks, Kenny

 

will this work? Can i just find TDC and make my own pointer then just time the thing off of the numbers on the dampner?

 

Don't boat engines rotate the opposite direction of car engines, meaning boat camshafts, distributer gear, and water pumps are different from car engines?

 

Why not just time it by ear? just in a boat you should be able to test and tune for a few minutes to get it in the sweet spot. Advance it tilll it rumbles a bit and back it off untill the rumble is gone. Take it out see how it runs adjust as needed..

 

No boat engines do not run backwards and plus its a car engine. Anyways i think im gonna just make my own mark and go for it. Im taking it to get tuned on thurs day, i need to get rid of all these emission fault codes since im running efi. Thanks for reading guys.

 

Unless you find #1 top dead center in a precision way, file mark the damper and make pointer, it won't make much difference from setting it by guess.
There are timing tapes for the front damper but you still need to locate accuratly.
To get the timing within about 2°, drill a hole in a scrap dist cap at the base of #1 tower. Get the #1 cylinder up on compression and TDC then rotate the dist so the #1 tower is in the 'center' third of the rotor's wide tip.
This will time the motor very close to the spec 10° BTC.
You can even use a timing light on that hole to see the tip location but account for what the light does because a dial-back will move it around and fool you so figure your base of reference as no dial back or set on zero for observing rotor tip position.
I know most never heard of these tricks bit there is more than one way to skin a cat. You can even check timing with a light on a single cylinder Briggs.
Some early Fords back in the late 60s used a water pump that exited out the same side as yours and should have had a pointer in the drivers side but you still need the right hardware to make it a no fab job. Front cover may even be different.
What are you using for ox sensors?
The tune should be a dilly to get rid of all codes. Why would it matter in a boat?
Good luck.

 

He is referring to counter rotation often found on boats with twin engines.
Supposedly an uncle of mine and a friend while in highschool (70's) put a merc cruiser 460 in a pinto. They got the motor from a man who was selling a pair of merc cruiser 460s from a boat salvage yard. The motor ran great. They spent the weekend fitting the motor, started her up for a test drive, put her in reverse and drove FORWARD into the garage wall..........counter rotation story..

 

You could mark 0 with pointer anywhere on the balancer with the actual mark and pointer set at 0. Then use an advance timing light to set the actual timing. I'd guess that 8 degrees BTDC (stock HO timing) would be good in a boat, since they tend to run at higher prolonged loads than a car does.

 

for the o2s im just running the stock setup but i found a good location where theres no water flow. Thanks for all the info guys.