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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / Electronic dist on 40 Ford

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Posted By Discussion Topic: Electronic dist on 40 Ford     supereal 06-23-2014 @ 3:50 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 Timing is not always the source of problems. Quite often the advamce curve is the culprit. Until the advent of the 8BA type engine, the advance was strictly mechanical. Vacuum is used for a crude snubber (brake) that retards the spark to avoid detonation (ping) under load. The later distributor uses vacuum drawn from above the throttle plate, and is a considerable improvement. At our shop, we have tried to make electronic conversions work, but with limited success. The later distributor relies on springs to control the curve, and the setting makes a large difference. Other than on race cars that run full bore most of the time, electronic ignitions tend to be less useful than the original type. Most are sold with the promise of eliminating ignition point problems, but a stock distributor, set up on a machine by someone who knows how to do it, should be trouble free for years of the kind of driving most old cars are accustomed to. TomO 06-23-2014 @ 9:21 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7250 Joined: Oct 2009 Getting hot in traffic could be because the radiator is not as efficient as the original Ford radiator or there is buildup in the coolant passages in the radiator and block. The reason that I asked if it ran hot before, is that the electronic distributors are more trouble prone than the original Ford dual point. The transient spikes in the ignition system destroy the electronics in the distributor. Tom bwhitworth 06-22-2014 @ 4:31 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 59 Joined: Nov 2010 Tom, I have been chasing problems for most of my ownership, I have not driven it enough to know if it over heated before. I live in Florida and last Friday I drove it 20 miles to a big car show, the temp was 91. With traffic and delay getting into the show it was all the way to hot but, was not venting any steam. Thanks for your help. TomO 06-22-2014 @ 9:59 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7250 Joined: Oct 2009 Observe the rotor turning direction, and to retard the spark, turn the distributor in the direction that the rotor turns. You put in water pumps that will increase the flow through the radiator to help with cooling and your friend wants you to put in thermostats to reduce the flow through the radiator. It doesn't make sense to me. In reality, it makes very little difference how much time the coolant stays in the radiator. If the water is slowed in the radiator to give it more time to give up heat, it is also slowed in the block allowing it to collect more heat. The better the flow, the better the cooling. A plugged up radiator really slows down the flow and results in serious overheating. Did your car run hot before you installed the electronic distributor? What are your vacuum readings at idle? When does your engine get hot, slow traffic or high speeds? How many quarts of oil did you put in the engine and what weight? How hot is hot, 180 degrees or boiling over and loosing coolant? Here is a link to a site that will help you interpret your vacuum gauge. http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/186.cfm Tom bwhitworth 06-22-2014 @ 8:58 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 59 Joined: Nov 2010 Tom, Which way do I turn the dist clockwise or ccw to retard the spark? The person suggesting 160 thermostats would cool better said the water was moving too fast to cool during it's trip down through the radiator. Thanks TomO 06-21-2014 @ 6:07 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7250 Joined: Oct 2009 In order to use a timing light on a 40, you must find no. 1 cylinder TDC and install a pointer and mark the pulley. Even then it will not be as accurate as a factory installed indicator. You can use a vacuum gauge to set timing. Set the idle speed to factory specs and connect your vacuum gauge to the windshield wiper port. Adjust the idle mixture for the highest vacuum reading. Next adjust the timing until the vacuum reading is the highest and back off the distributor, until the vacuum gauge reads about 2" less of vacuum. If your vacuum is in the 18-22 range with a stock camshaft, you are probably close enough in timing so that it is not the cause of running hot. Adding thermostats will only help the engine warm up to operating temperatures sooner. They will have little effect on running temperatures. Tom bwhitworth 06-21-2014 @ 6:24 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 59 Joined: Nov 2010 I have installed an electronic dist on my 40 Ford, it runs good but, it runs a little hot. I have been told that if the timing is a little late it cause it to run hot. Is there any way to put a timing light on the flat head engine to check? The instructions with the dist say turn it cw or ccw till it runs good. Also, I was told that putting 160 degree thermostats in will make it run cooler. It has no thermostats in it now. It does have high cap water pumps. Is this true thermostats will help it run cooler?

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