302 timing issues

[77broncodriver]

I have a ford crate engine that is about 2 years old and around 4000 miles on it in the bronco. It has never run great but it worked and did the whole fuel injection deal and I'm finally getting somewhere I thought till today.

It was running ruff so i was looking at timing and I twisted it till it ran the smoothest and would actually accelerate and that was at 40* with the spout disconnected.

I put it at tdc on compression and the distributor is pointed at #1 but the timing marks are at 35*s.

Im thinking that the timing chain skipped a tooth or something but want to see if any of you guys think otherwise.

Im going to call ford racing tomorrow to see what they say, my luck, it just ran out of warranty 2 months ago..

Evan

 

[baddad457]

What balancer and pointer are you using ? You might have the wrong combination here.

 

[Fairlane514]

You can also bring it up on number one cylinder compression stroke and stop the balancer at 10 degrees advanced.
Now remove the distrubutor and restab it with the rotor pointing at the number terminal on the cap.
This should get the engine started and the you can set the timing to what you want, such at 12-16 degrees advanced.

 

[77broncodriver]

What balancer and pointer are you using ? You might have the wrong combination here.

I'm using the balancer that came with the motor from ford and the pointer off of the 302 that came with the bronco but its been this way for 2 years and its always been easy to tune since recently.

 

[77broncodriver]

You can also bring it up on number one cylinder compression stroke and stop the balancer at 10 degrees advanced.
Now remove the distrubutor and restab it with the rotor pointing at the number terminal on the cap.
This should get the engine started and the you can set the timing to what you want, such at 12-16 degrees advanced.

I will give that a shot but it will probably still be off, it seems that it is around 30* off

 

[Ourobos]

So, original motor with 3 bolt balancer, and timing indicator on the right hand side standing in front of the motor looking at it? If you're using a newer balancer, the timing indicator should be on the left side of the engine looking at it.

If you're getting 40* spout out, and it's at 35* TDC, then just add about 5-10 degrees and call it a day, cause you're at 5* now it sounds like.

New 302

Old 302

 

[77broncodriver]

So, original motor with 3 bolt balancer, and timing indicator on the right hand side standing in front of the motor looking at it? If you're using a newer balancer, the timing indicator should be on the left side of the engine looking at it.

If you're getting 40* spout out, and it's at 35* TDC, then just add about 5-10 degrees and call it a day, cause you're at 5* now it sounds like.

New 302

Old 302

So i need to get a timing mark for the newer style one.

 

[Bronco73]

Or just buy some timing tape and slap it on there to check it out.

 

[DirtDonk]

Love timing tape.

Paul

 

[baddad457]

I'm using the balancer that came with the motor from ford and the pointer off of the 302 that came with the bronco but its been this way for 2 years and its always been easy to tune since recently.

Could be that the balancer's outer ring has slipped. Get it to TDC on the compression stroke (#1 piston at it;s highest point, not going off the balancer's marks), then look to see how the pointer sits in relation to TDC on the balancer.

 

[77broncodriver]

I found the original timing pointer and put it on till I realized the wildhorses balancer I got has the marks for both left and right side water pumps outlets...

My question now is, it the engine is at tdc according to the piston and rotor in the dizzy, does the balancer being off mean anything other than it slipping? Like would the timing chain skipping cause that or is the only possibility the outer balancer part slipping or somehow the key way breaking?

 

[77broncodriver]

And ford racing said since it's not their balancer the engines pretty much out of warranty

 

[Teal68]

If it's a new balancer it's highly unlikely it slipped. With the correct pointer and the no 1 piston at TDC what is the reading on the balancer now?

 

[Ourobos]

You can verify the engine is a TDC by peeping at the front of the crank journal and balancer, you should see they keyway for the balancer, it will be straight up at 12 oclock. If the rotor is pointing at the #1 wire, you're on the compression stroke also. Set your timing indicator at 0 when the keyway is straight up.

 

[77broncodriver]

It's newer, it has around 4k miles through the last 2 years, when I get home I'll look at the keyway.

I'm hoping after I fix whatever is wrong with this the efi will actually run a great as some of you guys on here say it does

 

[77broncodriver]

I got back from vacation and took my balancer off and found that the keyway on the balancer got enlarged to about an inch by the crank somehow. this explains why my timing would always change by itself.

getting a new one from a company that was recommended by ford racing, should be in early next week.

Heres a pic of what I'm talking about.

 

[Teal68]

Wow, I have never seen that before!

 

[baddad457]

Me neither. That's a defective balancer for sure. Looks like it was machined that way, not worn.

 

[DirtDonk]

Looking at the crud in the legitimate groove, it looks like it was never put on correctly from the beginning.
Is this your Ford Racing crate motor Evan?

Paul

 

[77broncodriver]

Yeah this is the crate motor, I'm not really sure how it could happen, it was easy to time when I had the carb, it was just till I put the efi on it started being hard go time, that was a year ago but only about 1500 miles