I just bought a 1963 Lincoln, bad, bad spark knock. It has sat for awhile so I dropped the fuel and put in new, no change. I adjusted the timing to 8degrees, with the vacuum advance off and plugged, no change. I removed distributor found TDC and then re installed, no change. I removed intake, changed lifters thought maybe (long shot) that I had a bad one or two, no change. I tried to time by ear to byp*** maybe a slipped harmonic balancer, no change. I have been at this for two weeks and now I need help. Compression is at 155 cold on all 8, about 128 warm. Gap at points set to .016 as manual states.????
Set your point gap with a dwell meter. Much more precise, and they only cost about $40. It shouldn't make a ton of difference if you set points super accurately, but you never know.
The CR is 10:1 with a rather inefficient plank combustion chamber shape. I think you might improve the sitch if you enrichen the mixture. What carb?
Have your distributors mechanical advance curve checked on a distributor machine. Those Ford units are famous for being way too fast on the mechanical advance. With that high compression you may have to slow the advance down slower than the factory specs. If you need the specs p.m. me and I will look them up for you.
Crossed wires? Double check your firing order. All eight out enough to knock that bad will cause starting problems, kicking back and stopping the starter. Two crossed wires will make one cylinder knock, but it will start like that.
Ok, good stuff! and thank you. I will check my timing, and get a dwell meter. What type of shop can check my distributor advance? I have the full shop manual, so the specs will be easy. Thanks a ton guys, I will keep you posted.
I recall two firing orders used in Lincolns but forget which years used them. One was 15426378, the other was 15486372.
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