Just cracked can often mean many things. There is actually only one correct place for it. Attention to detail off idle corrects many things, just saying. I never accepted 'just cracked' at all when setting up tunnel ram idles and off idle, you just can't do it because everyone's idea of cracked is different. Meaning I ALWAYS yanked the carbs to see where they were before ever starting to tune.

No insult intended or implied of course.

Then you know how between MSD and careful carb setup you can get one idling at like 600 rpm just like a stock car, even with .800 lift roller cam and twin 1400 cfm Dominators.... .............. ...on the 720CI prostock fatblock Camaro my brother used to drive it sounded ticking over that slow like individual sticks of dynamite going off in the 4 inch collectors, man that thing hurt your ears at IDLE. Even racking engine off dead idle the tach pulled up so quick you couldn't follow it with your eye. 0-9000 rpm instantly, my brother said it was virtually impossible to not overrev engine in every gear and yanking Lenco sticks as fast as he possibly could. Car held world's fastest top speed prostock record in IHRA there for a bit in late '80s, he ran it in Texas Prostock Association heads up match racing. Jerry Haas car. With 3 stage nitrous it ran high sevens at 205+, car still trying to spin tires off track going into fourth gear. I always thought that boy was a bit stupid. He loved it. That car was the last of a string of like five pro cars driven by him, the cars' owner was a guy who started by bringing us 454 dragboats to hop up, he had tons of cash and owned a big string of convenience stores.

Until MSD came along I never dreamed you could get those big muthas to idle that low. So low I used to joke about knocking the cam lobes off simply by how hard the car rocked when every cylinder went off.

Hey guys, what do you guys run for an ignition curve on a stock 2.3?, all I can find is initial timing nothing on the total on mechanical and/or vacuum. With this new reman distributor I got all I get is 30* total with the vacuum at 2500rpm with 16* initial, that don't sound right at all to me???..

30 degrees total sounds about right.

Really??? that's all they run for total?, and all I see for initial is 6-8* but this thing needs 16* to get 30*, not that it's bad it still starts with the touch of the key just seems strange. I was thinking 12* initial with 36-38* total all in by 2500 on the centrifical and another 10* on vacuum on the cruise, of course you have to have full manifold vacuum for that. But if 30* is where they run best and get the best mileage guess I won't mess with it then. Thanks for the info..

I just reworked the head on mine and it likes I'm guessing about 16 BTD as well. Same place it was before head rework. I need to learn to use the advance function n my timing light so I can see exactly where it is. 

I just reworked the head on mine and it likes I'm guessing about 16 BTD as well. Same place it was before head rework. I need to learn to use the advance function n my timing light so I can see exactly where it is.

I have a dial back timing light so checking timing is easy. Set the dial where you want the timing & line the damper mark up to zero. Checking total advance is as easy as revving the engine & turning the dial until the damper reads zero then just read the number off the dial to know total advance.

I have a dial back timing light so checking timing is easy. Set the dial where you want the timing & line the damper mark up to zero. Checking total advance is as easy as revving the engine & turning the dial until the damper reads zero then just read the number off the dial to know total advance.

All I use is a dial back, wouldn't be without one.

I have a good plain light that sits in the drawer. Unless my dial back dies I doubt I'll ever use it again.
 
I can't get my mileage over 17 even with the NOS carb. I had one tank that gave 21 mpg then back to 16-17 max. It want's to bobble & almost stalls when coming to a stop & run-on is bad. Something isn't right but I don't have time to figure it out. Even though it's NOS & never had gas in it I'm betting a 36 year old gasket or diaphragm gave out someplace. I'm definitely NOT a carb guru. I can tune a good carb pretty well but when the carb acts up I start whizzing in the wind & hoping I stumble on the solution.

I have a standard one too and haven't looked at it in years,lol..

Yeah I know what you mean, most of the time it's just something simple, but being that it sat so long stuff could have dried up and now you develop an internal leak, I've had that happen before and had to rebuild a brand new carb.

I have a dial back timing light so checking timing is easy. Set the dial where you want the timing & line the damper mark up to zero. Checking total advance is as easy as revving the engine & turning the dial until the damper reads zero then just read the number off the dial to know total advance.

My wife got me a fancy digital timing light for Xmas last year so it's a little different than just turning the knob. Got buttons to push. Of course I speced this light out for her so I have no one to blame but myself.

Yeah I know, that is really the way to go and I may change over down the road, gotta get the money tree to grow a bit first though,lol. So, you used a 91 Mustang setup huh, what do you have for an exhaust system?, I know mine is junk manifold is cracked small tubing and crap muffler, I was thinking of a ranger header and 2" back to a Flowmaster, how was the mileage after to converted to EFI?..

I probably have less than $300-ish in my swap. Engine was either $150 or $200 dont remember for sure. Plus $35 for the harness at pick n pull, same for the computer. Needed a few odds n ends but most of everything i needed came with the engine. I even wired in the mustang internally regulated alternator (took two wires to hook up). The engine only took about 3 wires plus some grounds.

As for the exhaust i used the stock mustang manifold. It clears everything just fine. Ranger should work too but I kept everything stock and retained the egr and everything.

I found my engine on craigslist. I decided what I wanted and the first time I looked I found what I wanted.

I had to search beyond my city to find it... but it was only an hour away. I went and picked it up the day i found it. Was easy.


Look for a 91-93 mustang 2.3. That's the best engine to use. Its got the alternator on the correct side and everything. The ranger engine has the alternator on the opposite side but it is still usable.

89 to 94 on the ranger I believe. Not totally sure tho. I know they had it from 91-93 also but believe they had it a year earlier and a year later also.