Meanzie

Hello first post,
The car is a 1967 Mustang coupe, with a 289 engine.
My son and I installed new intake gaskets on the intake manifold, due to the intake leaking radiator fluid. And we decided to change out the old four barrel carb with a new Holly 570 street avenger carb. After installing the MSD distributor the engine is running on four cylinders? We put a vacuum gauge on and it does not appear to have a big vacuum leak? I called MSD they recommended trying a new distributor cap. That did not work, so I think I may try to put on the old carb to eliminate that. Then I was told to hook a timing light up to each plug to see which ones are firing. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Mike

clowe1965

How did you determine that only 4 cylinders are working? Also were you switching from an OEM distributor? You may not be getting 12V to the new distributor. Check the timing, when I did that on mine it was 180 out. If it is only running on half the cylinders then it is not a carburetor problem, those tend to be idle/stumbling issues. Possibly take a video and post to youtube, then post the link on here.

Meanzie

Thanks Clowe,
We took the leads off the distributor and noticed that 4 were not sparking. I think 6&3 and I believe 1 & 5. Then when I took it for a spin around the block it had no HP.
Also its the same distributor that was in before ready to run MSD. We had it tdc on the #1 spark plug on the compression stroke. The other issue is after purchasing the car I realized the pointer was missing off the timing cover. So that is not exact when we time it. Thanks for your response I will try and make a video if that would help. Mike

clowe1965

Why don't you try taking out the ignition module and going back to the original ignition setup? I'm surprised it runs if only 4 cylinders are firing. I have that same issue with the pointer missing.

1slow67

Putting the old carb back on isn't going to fix the cylinders not firing. There is definitely something wrong with the dizzy.

Meanzie

Hello,

Just wanted to give an update. I purchased the car 4 months ago and after going through all the receipts for the engine build we found a receipt for the cam. And after call Comp Performance it was determined that the cam in the car was a Windsor cam which required a Windsor firing order. I knew that he said he had Windsor heads on it. At any rate after changing to the 351 firing order it runs like a champ, plus a lot more HP with the Larger Holley Carb.

Thanks for the help. Mike.

Is there a section that tells how to add photos to the garage?

jonward786

haha this exact same thing happened to my 302. the engine was rebuilt and the guy who did it failed to mention that the cam he chose was a 351 cam, so there I go wiring it for a 289 and flames shot out of the carb. It was pretty.

lucasp

I just did this about a month ago, installed a 302 with the firing order of a 302 and only four cylinders running and swap the distributor 180 deg and the other four fired and finally just for $hits and giggles I did a 351 firing order and boom! all 8s are running.

Meanzie

Yea for sure crazy stuff, had flames coming out of the carb as well. Just glad to get her out of the garage and not a paper weight any more.