The Ford Barn

duke36 · 09-14-2017, 11:00 PM

With a 5.5 head, should there be any changes to timing with respect to the instructions for a standard head ? We're running champ W18 (518) plugs with a 12 volt neg. ground Zipper. Btw, the FS distributor body has no pin into the head recess, so distributor alignment is by eye to get the distrib. top parallel to the head and with the spark fully retarded and fixed in the top slot position.

Jim Brierley · 09-15-2017, 11:04 AM

With the higher compression, the fuel will burn faster so you may not need as much advance. You won't really know until you try it.

Synchro909 · 09-15-2017, 07:26 PM

What Jim said. When I did mine, I took the car out and tried to make it ping - it did so I retarded the timing a little and repeated until I couldn't induce a ping. Been running fine now for a long time.

Smog Tech · 09-15-2017, 09:01 PM

Putting a timing mark on the front pulley and using a tiring light will make this much easier. Should have about 26° to 28° max. See what works best for your engine.

Synchro909 · 09-15-2017, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smog Tech

Putting a timing mark on the front pulley and using a tiring light will make this much easier. Should have about 26° to 28° max. See what works best for your engine.

Yup, that's what I did so I could retime it if I needed to. Turns out it was happy at about 5 deg ATDC at an idle.

duke36 · 09-18-2017, 11:14 AM

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So on the FS zipper, what is the actual process for retarding the timing, just moving the rotor position ?

1929 · 09-18-2017, 11:38 AM

I was told to max out at 26.

duke36 · 09-18-2017, 03:02 PM

Got the answer form FS to retard at idle with the distributor body rotated clockwise very slightly no more than 2 or 3 % from TDC (towards passenger side from TDC mark if no degree marking tag). Rotor should be aligned as per FS instructions at the leading edge of #1 spark position.

old31 · 09-19-2017, 08:40 AM

Because the FS distributors do not have a pin in the back of the distributor like the originals, you can "clock" the distributor to change the timing. I find it better to just change the rotor position.

That way the distributor doesn't look crooked.

duke36 · 09-19-2017, 09:58 PM

Well, it took 7-8 tries to get it to time close to TDC with a timing light at idle by adjusting the rotor. It is confusing which edge of the rotor tab should be positioned to #1 cap position. Andrews Green book shows advance and retard positions but perhaps not for the FS zipper.
According to FS , they omitted the pin to hold the distributor in the block due to added casting cost! Rotating the distrib body as old31 states allows for fine tuning but did look crooked. It didn't want to idle smoothly BTDC, but as Synchro stated, it liked the idle at about 3-5 deg (3/64") advanced with the 5.5 head. Marking 1.25 " on the 5 1/4" pulley from TDC does show advance within this range as posted elsewhere. We hope this set up ( installed by prior owner) will be effective on very steep hills in our area without the need to manually adjust retard.
Thanks also for the posted info.

09-15-2017, 11:04 AM	#2
Jim Brierley Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Temecula, CA Posts: 4,089	Re: FSI Zipper timing question With the higher compression, the fuel will burn faster so you may not need as much advance. You won't really know until you try it.

09-15-2017, 07:26 PM	#3
Synchro909 Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 7,496	Re: FSI Zipper timing question What Jim said. When I did mine, I took the car out and tried to make it ping - it did so I retarded the timing a *little* and repeated until I couldn't induce a ping. Been running fine now for a long time. __________________ I'm part of the only ever generation with an analogue childhood and a digital adulthood.

09-15-2017, 09:01 PM	#4
Smog Tech Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Arcadia, CA Posts: 145	Re: FSI Zipper timing question Putting a timing mark on the front pulley and using a tiring light will make this much easier. Should have about 26° to 28° max. See what works best for your engine.

09-18-2017, 11:14 AM	#6
duke36 Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2015 Posts: 1,414	Re: FSI Zipper timing question Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) So on the FS zipper, what is the actual process for retarding the timing, just moving the rotor position ?

09-18-2017, 11:38 AM	#7
1929 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: New York Posts: 943	Re: FSI Zipper timing question I was told to max out at 26.

09-14-2017, 11:00 PM	#1
duke36 Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2015 Posts: 1,414	FSI Zipper timing question With a 5.5 head, should there be any changes to timing with respect to the instructions for a standard head ? We're running champ W18 (518) plugs with a 12 volt neg. ground Zipper. Btw, the FS distributor body has no pin into the head recess, so distributor alignment is by eye to get the distrib. top parallel to the head and with the spark fully retarded and fixed in the top slot position.

09-18-2017, 03:02 PM	#8
duke36 Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2015 Posts: 1,414	Re: FSI Zipper timing question Got the answer form FS to retard at idle with the distributor body rotated clockwise very slightly no more than 2 or 3 % from TDC (towards passenger side from TDC mark if no degree marking tag). Rotor should be aligned as per FS instructions at the leading edge of #1 spark position.

09-19-2017, 08:40 AM	#9
old31 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2016 Posts: 2,101	Re: FSI Zipper timing question Because the FS distributors do not have a pin in the back of the distributor like the originals, you can "clock" the distributor to change the timing. I find it better to just change the rotor position. That way the distributor doesn't look crooked.

09-19-2017, 09:58 PM	#10
duke36 Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2015 Posts: 1,414	Re: FSI Zipper timing question Well, it took 7-8 tries to get it to time close to TDC with a timing light at idle by adjusting the rotor. It is confusing which edge of the rotor tab should be positioned to #1 cap position. Andrews Green book shows advance and retard positions but perhaps not for the FS zipper. According to FS , they omitted the pin to hold the distributor in the block due to added casting cost! Rotating the distrib body as old31 states allows for fine tuning but did look crooked. It didn't want to idle smoothly BTDC, but as Synchro stated, it liked the idle at about 3-5 deg (3/64") advanced with the 5.5 head. Marking 1.25 " on the 5 1/4" pulley from TDC does show advance within this range as posted elsewhere. We hope this set up ( installed by prior owner) will be effective on very steep hills in our area without the need to manually adjust retard. Thanks also for the posted info. Last edited by duke36; 09-19-2017 at 10:10 PM.