Hi everyone, was watching some YouTube videos of Foxes and SN95s accelerating, and got to thinking how I can make mine a little faster by solving the one problem this car has given me the whole time I’ve owned it.
My car is running pretty fantastic as it is, but I have a weird issue with timing. When I went to do a cap and rotor for the first time, my smart ass knew the firing order already and yanked the wires off the cap without looking. When I went to put the new ones on in the correct order and start the car, it would barely run. I had the order right, but turns out the car itself was messed up.
1 is where 6 should be on the cap. It is backwards. The order is effectively 65481372. This must mean something mechanically is in backwards. I believe the distributor is 180 out and the previous owner just decided to put the wires backwards to fix it instead of repositioning the distributor properly.
Regardless, I can still adjust ignition timing. My issue is that even though I am running the highest octane I can get, my car will start to ping at anything over 9 degrees BTDC. The car has no vacuum leaks, this has been confirmed multiple times, the IAT and MAF are both clean and clocked properly, and seem to be within range when checked with a multimeter (IAT), the TPS works fine (checked with a multimeter), the car is not running hot or warm, I SeaFoamed it (which barely helped in all honesty), I gapped the plugs right, I just can’t seem to figure it out. I’ve left it as is, but as I am sitting here with nothing to do, I have to ask. Has anyone else had this problem?
I know SN95 5.0L GT’s have a pinging problem that has been well documented, but I feel this isn’t normal. I also understand that the SN95 5.0L computer differs from the Foxbody computer in that it doesn’t use a set table for WOT. It doesn’t go open loop. It still reads O2 sensors. I plan on cleaning them to see if any improvement will show, but does anyone have any idea on any steps I should take? Thanks everyone.