I am attempting to tune the distributor in my 1960 Ford Thunderbird. I would like to get input from those much more experienced than me. My car has a Motorcraft FE distributor and I would like to know what slot 10L or 13L would be recommended for my application? Further, at what engine RPM is recommended to be “all in”? This car is an awesome cruiser Below are the vehicle specs: Vehicle: 1960 Ford Thunderbird Engine: 390 FE Ford (.030 over; 9:1 compression) Transmission: Cruisomatic Distributor: FOMOCO/Motorcraft Rear Gear: 2.75 Tire size: 215/75/R14 (26.7”) Vehicle weight: 3900 lbs My initial thought was to use the 13L slot which would give me 26 degrees of mechanical advance (all in by 2500 engine RPM) and run initial timing of 12 degrees for a total of 38 degrees. Nevertheless, I am open to suggestions. Any input would be much appreciated.
I'm not familiar with the 10L and 13L designations you're referring to, however from a general standpoint, I would suggest starting out a little more conservative on your total timing, keep it to 32-34 until you know for sure that's safe (it should be) and keep advancing it a little at a time until you hear it ping then you know you've gone too far and can retard it a couple of degrees. Do you have the ability to increase the initial without increasing the total? Shorter curve? If so I would try that. What does your distributor offer for vacuum advance? With that on top of your centrifugal, you're not going to want a total of more than something in the 50-54 range. My FE is 10 years newer than yours, in a 1970 F100. My centrifugal tops out at 36 and mine has vacuum advance and retard. My retard is disconnected and the advance adds another 16 degrees if I remember right. Set up like this it's very responsive and doesn't ping. Devin
From my experience, you'll actually get a little more advance than the distributor slot promises. I'm using the 10L slot on an OT car with a 289, and I have it set up with 15* initial, and I get about 37* total. I doubt a stock 390 will need that much initial, however, so you may want to stick with the 13L slot and maybe run 8-10* initial. Good luck!
2 barrel or 4 barrel? The original distributor should be an Autolite, so I am ***uming it was replaced at some point? I would use the 13L slots, making sure there is no slop in the shaft bushings, the weight springs are in good shape with no initial slop, and the nylon weight stops are in place. Start out with 8 degrees, and test drive to see if you have any ping with hard acceleration.
Thanks for all the input and sharing your experiences. Bangingoldtin - Yes, the original distributor was an Autolite; however, when I pulled the original engine (352 FE) I swapped to the motorcraft distributor (I rebuilt another engine “390 FE” and kept the original just in case I wanted to go back to an “all stock” engine compartment). I am running a 1406 Edelbrock 600 cfm carb with an Edelbrock performer intake manifold.
This is not exactly what you are looking for, but the methodology should be basically the same. Always note what your initial settings are so that you have a point to return to.
It is completely doable, using the engine itself as a "distributor machine". It is also a really big pain in the you know what. Not too bad when you get the hang of it, but. For maybe a hundred dollar bill + shipping Faron will get it very, very close to start with.
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