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I have this 1977 Ford E350 with a 5.8L (W) engine, auto trans an I want to check/set the timing. What is the proceedure? The underhood decal is not there an the Motor books an the Mitchell Vintage series I have does not have this proceedure. One thing I noticed is this distributor has 2 vacuum lines going to it. The issue it has is that after rebuilding the carb, it does not have a nice hot idle but wants to shut off. It starts fine, runs good otherwise but a hot idle is not good. I may need to adjust the idle mixture screws some but I did want to make sure the timing is right. This may separate the men from the boys.

If no one chimes in with the procedure I'll dig through my old books, just let me know. A question I have is how was it running before the carb was rebuilt and was the power valve replaced at that time. The conditions described fit the motorcraft carb power valve issue when the valve gasket isn't installed and it's over tightened. If there is an EGR plate under the carb the gasket NEEDS to be replaced. It's fairly thin and will crack when the carb is loosened off. Was the Vac hose way under the front of the carb put back on. Seen this a few times and the hose looks good but it's not on. Another thing that happens is if this is a vac fed shift module on the transmission make sure the hose is on the module. You'll never hear the leak since it's way on the rear of the transmission. Again, let me know and I'll climb up into the dusty rafters to grab my old Chilton book for that year.

Ah Steve, I'll answer your questions 1 at a time

No EGR on this one but it does have a spacer that was rusted out. Good used spacer with new gaskets installed.

Trans modulator vacuum line is on, dry.

Power Valve has been replaced with carb kit.

It ran bad when it first came in. Would not come off high idle cause choke wasnt working right. Was basically a runaway even when hot. When I got the choke freed up the engine would hardly run, no power.

I remember Fords of this vintage sometimes wouldn't burn plugs clean. I would let them idle for hours and still would have to replace them because they were sooted.

Old Mitchell says 12° and 650 rpm. does not state with or with out hose attached. I am not good with books, and have never set timing so if you need more give me a shout. i will see what i can find.

I have an old Motorcraft tune-up guide. There were a couple of different 5.8L engines. Cleveland and modified are basically the same. The Windsor engine is the only one listed for this application ( with 2V carb ). 8 degres BTDC with vacuum line plugged ( I would remove and plug both. One is advance and the other is retard ). Curb idle warm is 650 for manual trans and 550 in drive for automatic.

Some of these had idle problems because they had vacuum advance at idle and shouldn't have. If everything else is ok we would BB the vacuum hose. Generally the main issue with this was passing emissions.

Hope this helps.

Any possibility of someone having a vacuum diagram for this vehicle?

there are 23 pages of vacuum diagrams.... not sure this link will work to prodemand, because I had to log in to see this. Give this a try.

http://vintage.mitchell1.com/PClubData/ ... 75sec3.asp

Hey Tim how a bout a fax number??????

I found one that says:

"Fig 34 7-76J RO, Auto. Trans., Calif., 351W"
(E150,E250,E350)

Happy to fax as soon as I have your number.

I think all the engine specs on these are on the valve cover not the core support or hood. If the coved is caked with crap don't use carb cleaner to clean or it will clear any information.