Hey guys im posting another newb question! here it goes.

Iv read that bumping your timing can free up some power! and since my 5.0 is pretty much stock and i have no idea what the timing is.. probably has never been bumped.. im looking to change it up a bit.

my buddy said he has a timing light and that he would come over and help me but what should i bump my timing up to? and is there anything i should do or look out for?

Thanks!

 

You can run 14 degrees with premium fuel, stock is 10. Set it with the spout pulled and plug it back in when you're done. Drive it and listen for pinging.

 

If you bump it to 12 can someone run 92 octane? And will bumping it to 12 give less power than bumping it to 14?

 

kk thanks man

 

12 degrees will have a slight bit less power than 14 degrees. You may not necessarily have to run 93 octane fuel with 14 degrees. The higher octane rated fuels are better for supressing detonation, which is premature/improper combustion.

Advance the timing 1 degree, drive and listen for detonation. If there's detonation, go to higher octane fuel or retard the ignition. If there's no detonation you can bump the timing up some more and check, etc.

 

This might sound stupid but I havent touched the timing so what does the denotation sound like?

 

oh how much of a power gain will there actually be? will it be very noticable?

 

https://mustangforums.com/forum/5-0-...ng-sticky.html

Read that before you start.

It's worth maybe a couple of horsepower on a stock motor, but when you start replacing major engine components timing becomes more important/beneficial.

 

Detonation can be subtle or something that'll make you think the car is exploding.

Subtle detonation is like a slight knocking sound that gets faster as RPM's rise. I'm sure you'll know what the unsubtle sounds like.

 

I had mine set to 14 without a hint of detonation.I knew guys around town that had them turned up even higher than that.As long as it doesn't ping you'll be ok.