hey guys

so I need a little help on some things. I just did the upgrade on my 1989 f150

msd blaster coil
taylor wires
cheapo plugs gapped to .55
new cap and rotor 9brass)
k&n filter
fuel filter

does not seem to run any different!! it seems to surge a little when it first starts up though. to be fair I have yet to bump the timing because i really have no idea how to do it. (i plan on doing it next week with a buddy though)

any ideas what I may have missed? just thought i would see more inpronements then I did.

also while I was under it doing the fuel filter I noticed that it looked like I have two cats!! is that standard? I wont to put on some headers and lose the cats altogether, I should see improvement from that right?

 

Yea and high flow mufflers. C-Bombs would make it scream and would compliment the air intake upgrade.

 

you wont see a major improvement but it should start easier and you should notice the throttle is a little more crispier...especially once you bump the timing...

 

+1. You wont get a "seat of the pants improvement" from any little upgrades on this truck. Yeah the two cats is normal, cuttin mine off soon too.

 

I did feel a slight power improvement...it was slight but I felt more from bumping the timing...the biggest increase from the MSD stuff was in the gas mileage....

 

i drove around again today and I did notice that it seemed to run smoother and I do have a little bit more throttle response. I really need to do the bump now.

about the cats, if I cut them out will I feel a difference? also I would not mind having it a little louder. I have a 40 flowmaster muffler but its pretty quite

 

Bump away!http://fullsizebronco.com/forum/show...ht=timing+bump This link suggests 13.5 BTDC. Good place to start. I ended up at 16 BTDC. Just Keep an eye out for Ping & come back 2 if you run into it.

 

It will definitely be louder without the cats. I looked at my stock exhaust system and it seems that there are 2 cats, a resonator, and a muffler under there. I will be cutting all these out and putting in a new muffler and just running the exhaust out the passenger side. Should be a lot less restriction.

 

Your timing bump is where your going to feel the difference. The resulting increase in performance will be relative to your compression output. It allows you to better take advantage of what you have. It doesn't increase your compression, but it does increase your "rate of compression". So if your only putting out 120 psi/cylinder, the "seat of your pants" are quite safe. Some people have been known to run more advanced than 16BTDC w/the aid of an additional octane rate bump (Myself included for a short time). I found I didn't care for where my timing curve ended up. This Mod, in fact is where you truly become acquainted w/ your timing curve! There are some probably ways around that but being an 87' OBD1, I don't know if they are available to me. I'm not interested in gear modification either. Also, with an otherwise stock engine, I don't Know if I care to stress the engine past 16BTDC, being it's my only serious mode of transportation (Motorcycles don't count). I'm getting 18/23 MPG so I don't think I'm going to get much more out of it while keeping it stock. Something I've never seen discussed here is "Engine Balancing" (not to be confused w/ blueprinting). My Uncle had it done to his Vette and the results where rather impressive. It sure acted like a completely different engine. I wouldn't say much quicker or faster, but every thing it did was with about as much vibration as a sewing machine.

 

agreed...I always balance my engine when I build them...

I even like to get a bunch of rods and pick all the lightest ones from the stack and then I try to weight match them by grinding them...same with pistons....it make a big difference...