v8 Ignition

[94STXRanger]

Alright so im putting a 302 in my 65 mustang. The distributer was in it from a 83 mustang, and i want to put a sixties style dist in it instead to make the wiring easier. Can i just get a dist. from a sixty five or six or whatever and drop it in? Are the cam gears different? What else could be different? I just want to know if it would be doable or not.
Thanks

 

[gotmudd]

they made several different distributors for ford V8's, if you have the distributor that goes to the motor, and if my understanding is correct and you want to go to a points style distributor, then yes you'd have to change the cam gear from the original distributor to the points distributor and get a canister style coil w/condenser,also the year of the motor would be helpful to know if there are other differences, such is the motor carbed or not.

 

[skinner]

The gears will work..but if you use a newer style roller cam you must use a steel gear. OTher than that it should mesh fine. Keep in mind though that ford liked to change the distributor for every year and every setup. Different advance curves and vac advances. Nobody curves these things anymore. I'm the only one in Louisville I know of that knows how to or even will curve a points style distributor. Takes patience...and i've got the original curving charts if you need them.

 

[94STXRanger]

Sorry i thought i said in the first post, its an 80 block. And i do want to go to the older style to match the wiring of my sixty five, but put an electronic conversion on it. So the gears are the same? its a none roller cam.

 

[Foxracin]

Yes, the gears will be the same.

 

[baddad457]

You can buy a fresh reman points distributor at your local parts house for around $50-60 with a core to exchange. Then replace the points with an electronic module. Same cam gear for 60's to 1984. This is the route I used to do my swap. I also went with the larger style distributor cap, all you need is the early 80's cap adapter. All three parts come in some kits (cap adapter, cap and rotor)

 

[94STXRanger]

Yeah i work at oreillys so im gonna get the stuff pretty cheap, which is also why i want to do it. So a 60s dist and gear will work fine with the eighties cam correct? I am also gonna get the conversion cap adapter and all. I think this will save me a lot of pain in the butt on hooking up the ignition.

 

[gotmudd]

Yeah i work at oreillys so im gonna get the stuff pretty cheap, which is also why i want to do it. So a 60s dist and gear will work fine with the eighties cam correct? I am also gonna get the conversion cap adapter and all. I think this will save me a lot of pain in the butt on hooking up the ignition.

actually i just did a points conversion on my 73, went from points to electronic. i bought the PETRONIX aftermarket points eliminator kit. you use your stock points cap and coil or do like i did and get an MSD BLASTER II. the conversion kit and coil cost me $120 and took less time to install than a set of points. was running in 20 min.

 

[baddad457]

Yeah i work at oreillys so im gonna get the stuff pretty cheap, which is also why i want to do it. So a 60s dist and gear will work fine with the eighties cam correct? I am also gonna get the conversion cap adapter and all. I think this will save me a lot of pain in the butt on hooking up the ignition.

Yea, no difference in the wiring. Firing order is dependent on the cam grind-------nothing else. When I first did mine, I had the Pertronix I in it, then later went to a "II" unit. Currently it has a Crane XR-1. Mallory Promaster points/electronic coil, large post cap, Ford racing 9 mm wires. The cam in mine is a 94-2001 F4TE (this has got the 351W F/O) Distruibutor is a reman from Advance Auto, fitted with a steel gear for the roller cam.

 

[94STXRanger]

whats the difference in the steel and brass cam gears? I know they cant be interchanged, but when was one used versus the other?

 

[Psychopete]

whats the difference in the steel and brass cam gears? I know they cant be interchanged, but when was one used versus the other?

Brass for racing applications, not practical for a D/D, they wear fast.
Steel for roller cams.
Cast for flat tappet cams.

Pete

 

[94STXRanger]

Thanks guys, i just ordered the dist for a 65-73 i think, and the conversion kit for sixty bucks.

 

[COPPERHEAD85]

wish i could have cought you.i gotta older style dist. with an acell pickup with wires and acell super coil i would let go pretty cheap

 

[94STXRanger]

well i havent got it yet. I was also looking at a billet dist. on sale at mustangs plus down the road. I dont even think its a MSD or mallory or anything. Its only 99 bucks though.

 

[COPPERHEAD85]

let me know if you need it..