How do you set the timing for a 1979-1981 351 windsor and what should it be set at. the 1 cylinder is the front cylinder on the passenger side. thanks?

Answer 1

You'll need a good timing light and an offset distributor wrench that is 1/2 on one end and 9/16 on the other. Get a good inductive timing light, not one of those cheap crappy ones. An inductive light simply clips on to the spark plug wire, while the crappy cheapos require you to insert a rod like thing in the #1 tower at the distributor cap. You have to have the offset wrench to losen the distributor adjusting bolt buried under the distributor.

Most folks recommend 10 degrees BTC (before the piston reaches top dead center). On the harmonic balancer, you will see some marks that go 10 20 30 with 2 degree ticks between them. Take a wire brush and clean off the 10 degree mark. I also suggest that you paint the mark with white paint to help you see it better with the timing light. Break the distributor hold down bolt lose but leave it snug. Start the engine, warm it up, fix vacuum leaks or mechanical problems.

Turn it off, and then take the vacuum line loose from the distributor. If you don't, the vacuum advance will screw up your initial timing. Cap the vacuum hose. Hook up your timing light. Start motor and run it at your idle speed. Now loosen the distributor bolt. Point the timing light at the balancer, pull the trigger. You'll see it flashes as the timing marks go past the pointer on the timing cover. You'll see your white paint line. All you have to do now is turn the distributor until the white line lines up with the pointer. Tighten the distributor bolt. Unhook your light, and be sure to reconnect your vacuum hose. That's it!

If you hear a bunch of excessive pinging, you may want to back off the timing a couple of degrees. You can also experiment and advance it some more to get more power. Just watch out for too much pinging/ detonation.