Mk2 2L Pinto

[Les]

Hi folks, I'm after the actual ignition point gap setting for a 2 litre Pinto engine. Due to the cam and head being modified, setting by dwell setting in the books is not seeming to give the results we need. At the moment I have it set at .012 thou. with the timing at 4 deg BTDC this seems OK but still not running at its best.

Cheers,
Les

[T3man]

If you have a modified motor you really need to set the dwell accurately - points will allow error which a modified engine may not be all that keen to tolerate. Anyhow the specs for points gap is way more than 12 - going only from my (old) memory it is up around 25 thou. I don't know what your cam is but I'd also try advancing the initial timing to about 6-8. Disconnect the vacuum lines. Have you had the dizzy advance curve changed to suit your cam? If not then you will probably need to leave the vacuum advance line off or the thing will be too far advanced and pink it's head off.

[Les]

Thanks T3man, I thought I'd seen the gap at 25 but was dubious about it. does work OK at 12 but will open them up and check the dwell. The car revs OK but is rough at an idle. Pretty much fully worked and goes hard in Dirt Circuit racing.
Cheers

[oysta]

Ford Repair Manual for stock 2L HC:

point gap 0.65 +/- 0.05 mm or
dwell angle 50deg +/- 2 deg

this is at 6deg +/- 2deg BTDC

[Engine Guy]

Set the gap @ 18thou, then timing to 10 Deg BTDC with the Vac advance pipe off (and plugged)

Then try to set dwell to approx 49 - 50 Degrees...
With practice you can do this easily...but if you're not keen on doing this then maybe an electronic ignition setup would be the way to go...

Cheers
Engine Guy

[T3man]

It will be impossible to get 50 degrees dwell with 18 thou gap. At 0.018" dwell is likely to be way up near 70 degrees would be my guess. The resultant spark will be weak and the high compression engine will simply blow it out LOL.

[Les]

Thanks for the input guys, I set the points at 25 thou which is the ford specs and the dwell came in at 40 deg. engine wouldn't rev.freely enough, reset to 18 thou and set the timing by ear which ended up 4 deg btdc went quite well. went well enough to beat a 351 in an XE falcon.
Left home 5-00am got back 12-00 midnight but a good day.

[T3man]

Someone's been fiddling with the dizzy then - the cam lobes must be way oversize. Anyhow, you have it running good now so that's what matters. These things always take some experimenting to get the right combo.