truckie1885

My distributor started squealing and I would like to get it switched out sooner than later. My question is, after some reading, there seems to be different gears. Also what do I need to be worried about with timing? 92 302

tanman90

Being a 92 it should have a roller cam which means it needs a steel distributor gear. I recommend richporter distributors I bought one for my truck seems to be a high quality part.

Before you remove the dizzy set the #1 cylinder to tdc compression stroke with the rotor pointing toward the firewall. This will just make it a lot easier during installation of the new one.

truckie1885

Anything I need to do in regards to timing? Disconnect the spout? I should probably break out the Haynes manual, but I like real world experience.

tanman90

Yep once you get the timing light hooked up remove the spout plug (located near the ICM on the dizzy) and start the engine, adjust base timing to 10° btdc. I recommend bumping the timing up to about 14° for a noticeable performance gain. Each mark on the balancer is 2° so keep that in mind.

Also before doing this clean up the marks on the balancer with some sand paper or a wire wheel to make it easier to read and put a white mark on 10°. I used a white out pen. Makes it much easier to see with the timing light.

Modular man

Tanman pretty much took care of u . But if ur going to bump up ur timing to 14 id Also do the full six liter tune up. Witch means getting a high performance coil,wires ,cap, button and sum good copper plugs. I'd def get motor craft cause that's wat ur motor wAs born with .i went with msd everything coil, wires, and distributer there's other good distributers out there I just like msd. I also have a msg ignition it will help with performance also . If u do these thing ull get a good bump in power and have a night running trick to boot .... Good luck my man

Crownman

A good Motorcraft coil is your best bet. You would need to do major modifications before needing a different coil. I know plenty of mustang guys running the stock coil on very high HP engines and have no problems at all. For the distributor take a look at summit racing. They sell a nice billet distributor under their name for less than 200. Its a solid unit and ive been very happy with mine.

Modular man

I've ran both motorcradt and msd coils and the msd lasted longer .msd is tryed and true u can't go wrong in my eyes but that's just me..coils aren't a really big deal but as far as a distributers goes I just like to give my motor the best. I try not to cheap out on my truck .. But like he said ^ summit makes sum good stuff and it dnt coast as much . Jegs sales a nice distributer ssr-ll distributer I had one on my 92 it last along time it was a straight mudd truck so it was always getting muddy and wet. It past my test lol

Crownman

I'm not doubting that your MSD lasted longer. It's just been my perspective from working on cars for years. The aftermarket makes good stuff but the OEM stuff is good also. I had 2 MSD coils, 1 Accel coil, and 1 BWD coil go out in my truck over a year and a half period. The Motorcraft that I bought has been in there a year and a half now and is still going strong.

As fa as the distributor goes, billet is billet. What matters is the internal stuff and the stuff in the Summit distributor is the same as the stuff in an MSD, Accel, etc. The differences between what are pretty much mid priced street distributors is really slim.

I completely understand only wanting the best for your truck or car, I'm the same way and have been since the late 80's. However, after seeing many guys running 600-700 hp engines and swearing by some of the OEM parts like the coil and distributor I had to really adjust my thinking.

As an example, the COP's on my 2002 Mustang. I wanted to upgrade them with some better aftermarket ones so I spent a good amount of cash on some. After about 9 months I started having weird random misfires. After a bunch of diagnosis I had more than a few people tell me to put the stockers back on because they were better pieces. These were guys well into the 700-900 HP range that had problems with anything but the stock units. I've had this type scenario rear it's head many many times and I've fixed a ton of cars by taking off high dollar parts and putting stock components back on.

Please don't take the above as a jab at you or anything. It's not meant that way. But assuming that your not giving your vehicle the best by using some stock parts is a wrong assumption that it took me more than a few years for me to get through my head.

fltdriver

x2, OEM parts are generally best. Hence the TPS, PCV, etc... needing to be motorcraft or issues arise. I'm not saying aftermarket isn't good just that oem parts are what the engineers that designed this truck used to put it together. Small differences in brands can lead to major headaches down the road.

Modular man

I have accel c.o.ps on my 06 f150 5.4 they been on the truck for two years with no problems. Dnt get me wrong some stock parts are a most or the truck Wont run right , I just no one thing wen I was a kid young and broke I seem to buy stock parts all the time . Now Adays I dnt have that problem ever since I switched to sum better brands including msd. To each there own im sure wat u say is true for u u seem to no wat ur talking about. I didn't take it the wrong way at all . Back to the distributers his main question most are the same on the inside. I'd just def look for sumthing with a good warranty most don't acouple company's do good luck my man