QuestionQUESTION: Hey Dick: A friend is restoring a 34 Ford, flathead, 8 cylinder and needs to know the configuration for the spark plug wires to the distributor cap. A diagram would be greatly appreciated, and your expertise, even more so!!!!
ANSWER: Ford used a different firing order than the rest of the V8 world, so first you have to identify the cylinders by number, then install the spark plug wires around the distibutor cap in the direction of rotation of the rotor when the engine is turned clockwise, as viewed from the front of the engine.
You start with the #1 plug wire in the plug wire hole that is lined up with the rotor's tip when the #1 piston is at the top of it's stroke on the compression stroke.
The only way to find which is the compression stroke is to stick your finger in the #1 plug hole while someone else manually cranks the engine in a clockwise direction with the hand crank. When you feel pressure building against your finger, you know you are on the compression stroke. Then stick a soda straw in the plug hole until you feel the top of the piston, then slowly continue cranking the engine until the piston has arrived at Top Dead Center. Back it up very slightly, until you just see the straw lower a tiny bit, now you are close enough to correct timing that the engine should run OK - at least well enough to perform a normal tune-up on it.
You need to know that Ford numbers it's cylinders differently: #1 is the front cylinder on the passenger side, then 2, 3 and 4 are behind it, in order. On the driver's side (assuming this is an American built left hand drive model!), they are numbered 5,6,7,8 front to back.
Ford used the firing order 1 5 4 8 6 3 7 2
Another way to say all this, using "1R" for the front right cylinder, is: the wires go into the distributor in the following order: 1R,1L,4R,4L,2L,3R,3L,2R
I hope this is clear enough. I have no way to include a diagram, sorry.
Dick
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thank you for the quick response. I failed to mention that there are 2 caps. Any suggestions in this case?
AnswerNo, this doesn't really change anything. If you study the way the distributor is made, you'll see the rotor has two tips, they come in line with the plug wire sockets on each side of the cap alternately as the rotor turns, you just have to plug in the wires where the appropriate wire socket is closest to the rotor tip when the crank is in position to fire that cylinder. The cylinders come up on the firing point at 90 degree intervals, so once you have the crank positioned at #1 as described above, plug wire "1R" into the plug socket that is at the present position of the rotor (on that side of the distributor), then turn the crank clockwise by 90 degrees, and the rotor on the other side will be in position at the plug wire socket for 1L and so forth.
Fords are a bit weird in this way, but the principle is the same for any engine. To recap, no matter where the tip lines up, when the time comes for that cylinder to fire, plug the wire in where the rotor is pointing. The first 4 wires go in the same side of the cap as their cylinders, the last 4 wires have to cross to the other side of the cap (for instance, the 2L wire has to cross over to the right side of the cap to get to the position where the rotor tip is lined up with it's socket.)
If this gets too confusing, get a friend who knows flathead Fords to look over your shoulder as you do this.
Dick
