Well I followed a procedure in an engine rebuild book for installing the dist...I bumped the starter until a kleenex stuffed in the #1 plug hole came rocketing out, then turned the crank a little until it was at 6' btdc, then turned the oil pump gear until it pointed at the #5 pushrod, then marked on the dist where the #1 plug wire would go, measured back 2 1/4" to where I needed to start the rotor, and then put the dist in and it popped in perfectly - but the car will only run with lots of gas and acts like it has a very lumpy cam...what do you guys thing? 180 off? New parts: Cap, rotor, wires, plugs, fuel filter, egr vacuum hoses, cts, mat, fpr diaphragm and spring retainer. The tps is set at .55 at idle, not sure about IAC but I'm not quite ready for that anyway...thanks in advance for help

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89 Iroc-Z LB9 305 TPI auto 2.73 posi:
3" Dynomax "cat" back,K&N filters, TB bypass, 3" pipe in place of cat, cleaned and flow-matched injectors, 180' thermo, mild ignition mods, synthetic oil, kicker sound system, soon to attempt engine swap...

 

If it runs at tll, it isn't 180° off. That's a comfort as far as it goes. The procedure you followed is vewry close to the same as what I do, it should have you pretty close.

What happens if you advance the timing a whole lot while the motor is running? If it starts to run better as you turn it but never gets quite right, then reaches a point rather abruptly where it about kills the motor, then you're one tooth off in the retard direction, and you need to lift it back up just far enough to disengage the gear from the cam, turn the rotor CCW until it catches the next tooth, and drop it back in. That would be my guess.

Check the order of the plug wires carefully. Also check to be certain that with the engine at #1 firing, the rotor contact os pointed straight at the #1 plug tower on the cap which is the one just to the driver's sice of straight ahead. The distributor body should be pointed such that the flat side of it is straight from front to rear, on the driver's side.

I never believe the timing mark, they are wrong at least 3/4 of the time. They are on teh part of the balancer that is only connected to the rest of the engine by a blob of spooge, not a solid metallic assembly that can't change. That may be part of your problem.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."

 

Thanks. That's what I meant by perfectly - it was pointed right at the #1 terminal. I'm going to try advancing it like you said and will post results.

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89 Iroc-Z LB9 305 TPI auto 2.73 posi:
3" Dynomax "cat" back,K&N filters, TB bypass, 3" pipe in place of cat, cleaned and flow-matched injectors, 180' thermo, mild ignition mods, synthetic oil, kicker sound system, soon to attempt engine swap...