87 ford mustang 5.0 motor
 

i dont understand what goin on with my motor i have over and over again retimed it ! i made sure piston is on tdc and distributor is on number 1! after cranking and cranking engine will start but rpms are way to high like at 3-4rpms so we i try to drop it to 2rpms and motor back fires thought carb and stalls everytime! can someone help i been doin this for a week now with no luck

check the balancer and see if the outer ring has slipped...might be giving you a false timing mark if it has..

I am by not all means a Mustang guy, but I do own a Mark VII. I don't mean to insult you, but i'll ask this question anyways. Did you remove the spout connector when you were timing the engine? I imagine the engine is like my Mark VII and has to be set at 10* Then did you set the idle using a feeler gauge? Again, sorry if I'm insulting you, but I'm used the older 302 engines with carbs and when I bought my Mark VII I had no idea what a spout connector was. I now know a thing or two about these OBDI fuel injected engines... Hope this helps, or at least struck a thought that will lead to you narrowing the problem down.. good luck.

-Joe

It sounds like a vacuum leak someplace to me.
If your using the 0 degree mark on the balancer to find tdc make sure the #1 is all the way up by removing the spark plug and insert a long dowl to be sure the balencer didnt slip, if thats all good and you know your at 10degrees btc initial and the engine is ideling really high , then you need to move on the the iac or find the vacuum leak.
you just arnt gonna see a high idle at 3-4k from having your timing to far advanced. You dont adjust the idle with timeing.

i dont have a timing pointer yet i just ordered one! i pulled number 1 spark plug and moved crank until its at tdc then put dist on # 1 after cranking for a bit it start but runs at 3-4k i tryed to retard dist and motor dies at 2k everytime

i decided to take off carb and intake to check for cracks in intake! found rear lower gasket was backwards from previse owner so i cleaned up intake today and painted it ill put all new gaskets on tommorrow and ill hope for the best! i hope that was the problem but wont know till i try to start till again

Did you set the carb up or was it like it is when you got it. It could be the carb is just way out of adjustment. Check to make sure the idle screw is not set to far open. And also that the mixture screws are not turned way out. I am assuming this car is the 97 in your sig and it has been converted to a carb?
You need to get that pointer so you know exactly where your timing is, once you get your timing set to 10 degrees btc with either the spout disconected or the vacuum advancd disconnected ( not sure what dizzy they used on it for the convert) . Start setting up the carb. All idle should be controlled at the carb. Depending on what kind of carb it is youll need to get some info on how to set it up. I have never seen a carb bolt on right out of the box that didnt need some setting up. Reall a high idle like your describing on a carberated engine the first thing id check is how the throttle linkage is hooked up and make sure that it is not holding the butterfly open .

Sorry for my previous reply, all I seen was that it is an '87 5.0, and I automatically ASSumed it was an EFI engine. I over looked where you typed it was a CARB engine.

well today i finally got my mustang to start over and over again! but the problem is it will only start over and over again if i jump it at solenoid! but if i hook wire back up and sit in side and try to start with key it will not start! anyone know why?

one problem was i was cranking over and over it wouldnt start so i pulled off one wire and put spark plug against manifold motor would try to start so i put wire back on spark plug in motor and it starts right up! any ideas why?

when it did start with key it would only start after i would let key go! any ideas?

Was this car converted to CARB??