my boss has a 1979 f150 351w and he said the timing is off, i told him he will probably have to take the cam and crank gears off to adjust it, is there any other way to adjust timing on it

 

Cam timing or ignition timing?

 

man im not really sure he didnt say, he just said the timing is off, he said he took the distributor off and twisted it???? so im guessing hes talking about the cam timing, i havent seen the thing run in forever, i keep bugging him about letting me have it this may be my chance if he cant get it timed right!!! lol

 

Thats just ignition timing. Obviously you have no familiarity with that engine. Get a haynes book before you touch it. He move the distributor cap it sounds like. It just needs to be adjusted.

 

yea im not familar with the 351's and neither is he, hes not a ford guy but his dad gave him this truck, and he wont let go of it even tho i want it!!

ill tell him to go get a book

 

The distributor just needs to be put back in the right position. Then you should be able to get it started if you leave the holddown bolt loose and twist the distributor back and forth, then you adjust it properly using a timing light and the book procedure.

This basically involves setting #1 piston to TDC with both valves closed, and dropping the distributor back in so the rotor is pointing to the #1 terminal. That will get it close enough.

 

if the distributor was taken out of the motor i would bring the motor to tdc and see where the rotor points..it needs to be pointed at the number one position on the cap..then time from there---ahh the good ol days of distributors...

 

yep good ole days, the truck starts but runs REALLLLY bad so would that be cam timing?

 

No its ignition. Why would the cam timing be off? Bring it to TDC # 1 and make sure the distributor is aiming dead on #1 Then get a timing light and time it per the specifications in your Haynes book.. Cam Timing has nothing to do with this problem.