I went to a local cruise-in last night, and some of the good ol' boys there told me that I could increase the horsepower of my 302 if I changed the firing order (currently 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8) to that of a 351 (1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8). Anyone ever heard of this or tried it? I've Googled it and found mixed answers. Considering that I just went through a week and 1/2 of getting the Fairlane running right, I'm a little leery of fixing what ain't broke! Because the Claycomo Ford Plant (BTW - for those that don't know, Claycomo stands for Clay County, MO) has been here since 1951, there are alot of Ford fans/workers/"experts" around here, so I'm hoping they know what they're talking about. Side note - the Claycomo plant was recently recognized as the most productive US automotive plant in the US, according to Automobile magazine. It's also where my baby was born 43 years ago!
Keep in mind, there are at least 2 different firing orders for each of these Windsor engines. Early 302s used one, the later (after 85 I think) used another. The 351 had different orders. And you cannot just change the wires around. The engine will knock itself to pieces. On my 79, a friend was helping me do a tune up, and the wires got mixed. Knock like you wouldn't believe, but she ran. No power, either. If you are going to change the firing order, you have to change the cam shaft. There is no other way. If you just change the firing order, the spark is out of sync with the valves. Mayhem will ensue, and eventually you will hole a piston. The best way to gain horsepower is to go to a proper dual exhaust, with either an H or X cross over.
Thanks Mike - when I was researching I saw several posts about needing to change the cam which I'm not ready to do, especially since there's nothing wrong with my cam. I've already put new exhaust system on the wagon from the manifolds back with Flowmaster 40's. I had to modify the exhaust when I lowered it so the exahust exits in front of the rear axle instead of behind.
Borrowing this thread............. Speaking of changing wires.............. Son recently changed the plug wires on our Hemi Dodge. It has two plugs per cylinder and one fired from a coilpack on the opposite bank. He rewired so each pair fires at the same time from the same coilpack. I can see the slight delay of burning the late exhaust but also the advantage of both firing at once. We immediately drove 1000 miles at 80 MPH most of that, in under 18 hours and it seemed more responsive. Not a Ford but thought I'd add my 2 1/2 cents. Also need to know which Chevy short wires will replace the eight long wires?????? I've forgotten more about cars than I used to know and don't know diddly about these modern engines. Maybe a Hemi freak can shed some light on this. Also the cold air induction sounds kool even though fuel mileage didn't go up much. The next 1000 mile return trip will tell! Back to the Ford wiring questions.??????????????? PS I'd say leave the Ford alone and enjoy it.
100% correct. To change the firing order you need to change the cam. Camshaft determines firing order. Reason is that the valve needs to be closed to ignite the fuel for compression. Or open to receive air/fuel and no spark.. A friend of mine had a Pontiac 400 that he swapped to the Buick or Olds firing order. He said that there was a noticeable increase in HP and response, but not worth the cost of having a custom ground cam shaft to accomplish it. Meaning, if you NEED a new cam, go for it, but if not, you ain't missing much... You will need some serious HP to notice this... Like over 400.
The explanation I have always heard was Ford did it to better balance the loads on the main bearings. I'm not aware of any actual performance increase from just changing the firing order from the old 302 to the 351W.
Nope; it's a cam change. Friend of mine just went through this...unintentionally. He could NOT get a freshly built 351 to run. He restores a lot of cars and his engines are all built by one shop. The builder was certain that he purchased and installed a 351 cam, but they could NOT get it to run. They finally switched it over to the 289/302 firing order and it ran smoothly. Turned out the cam supplier shipped a 302 cam instead of a 351 cam; the cam was mis-labeled as a 351.
I'm leaving well enough alone. It's running good now so I'm going to try and get through the summer without spending anymore $ on the wagon. Doubtful.
wise choice young Jedi... re-arranging the firing order without changing cams????? thats one of the silliest things Ive heard in a long time !!!! dont talk to those guys anymore
All too often some one thinks that they know what they are talking about because they overheard a conversation about a specific subject. Problem is that they don't have enough knowledge of their own, and they don't fully grasp the concepts being discussed. This leads to misinformation being communicated when they repeat what they thought that they learned. I used to try to correct this misinformation that was being disseminated, but soon learned that you can't educate them, because they believe that they know it all. Some people have a good knowledge base of how an engine works, and others think that they do. When someone makes a claim to "modify" an engine in any way, better to check it out completely, then to ruin your engine because the person that gave you the information didn't know diddley squat about what they were advising you to do.
That's the beauty of this forum, Junk - get the straight answer! I appreciate everyone's input. The wagon's name is "Betty" as in Betty White Ford, and Betty's runnin' fine, so I'm leaving her alone! Drove Betty to work today - 106 degrees here and she handles it like a champ!
I reversed the firing order on my first 389 OK, I had not realized that it is backwards because the distributor is on the other side of the cam unlike my Chevy's. Oops! I dicked with that thing trying to get it running for hours before a buddy showed up, we had a beer together, he then walked in to the shop, ran the plug wires backwards and it fired right up. I still hate myself for that one, I felt so, well, so, ummmm , not bright . It took several more beer for me to feel better about myself. Of course I must admit that I also had had several beer BEFORE I made the boo boo. This just could be one of the reasons I quit drinking
