Steve10

Guys I'm glad I found this forum. I've mostly owned Mustang 5.0's in the past and a '94 TA. I'm purchasing a '87 Formula on Tues. It's a one owner 80K mi. car with a recent ZZ4 swap. The guy sent the car to Scroggin-Dickey a little over a year ago to have this work done. He then put about 2K on it and parked it to go overseas. Now he is having a '70 Roadrunner built, so this one's for sale. If I would have done this I would know every detail about it, but he can't answer all my questions. What I gathered from him and looking at the car:
ZZ4 crate TPI w/Hot cam & ported heads
Larger runners
Edelbrock 58mm TB
Crane Fireball HI-6
Chip (JET I think)
Headers & full exhaust
Don't Know:
Upgraded fuel pump?
Injectors?

The car is sitting at the shop where his Mopar is being built and the shop owner said the car wasn't tuned properly when he first saw it. He's drove it a couple of times a month to keep the battery up, and tuned it somewhat to his preference (much timing and a little race gas). What should the initial timing be? Do I need to unplug anything when adjusting the timing? I'm unfamiliar with the Crane box...comments? The tranny and rear are stock. I think the first thing it needs is a ~2800 stall and shift kit. Any comments...brands, experiences?

This car rips and I know I'm getting a deal at $5000, but I just wish I knew more about the ZZ4 and the 3rd gens in general. I greatly appreciate any help. Sorry so long.

Thanks,
Steve

Vader

Steve,

Welcome Aboard!

Congratulations on your find. If the chhassis and body are in reasonable condition, you probably are getting a fair price.

You'll find that there is a lot of support and opinion on this site, so measure the advice you get carefully before opening your wallet or tool box.

The philosophies surrounding the 302 Ford are a little less applicable to the 350. The 302 is a little more of an old-school design where you maximize flow at an RPM band and make gobs of horsepower at higher RPMs. Get larger ports and the biggest valves the head will hold, ramp the cam slowly but hold them open for a longer time, and gear the car to ignore the lower RPM ranges. The longer stroke changes the theory a bit. The torque curve of the 350 starts at a lower RPM and is a bit more broad than the 302. Where the 302 is really good for higher RPM and flow at those speeds, the 350 requires a bit more massaging to get a broader range of flow to support the torque output at lower RPM. Ford finally susbscribed to this theory with the Romeo (modular) engine, but it's too bad they decided to use the weaker block and not cast an integral case like the older Windsor.

That aside, the initial (base) timing is a highly variable thing. Since the induction system is still TPI, I would suggest hanging close to the original spec of 6° BTDC to begin with. The higher charging effect of the TPI can create enough cylinder pressure to cause detonation at advanced timings, but you have a lot of variables. Set it at 6-8° BTC and experiment from there. I would be surprised if you can get away with much more than 10-12° BTC without creating a lot of detonation and spark retard by the ESC.

The ZZ4 is not that much different from the "regular" 350 except in head flow and cam profile. If you are using ported stock heads you might not have a good handle on the flow unless you can get details on the porting work. How large are the ports? What valve sizes? Are the port ceilings raised? Etc.

You might also consider a custom PROM to replace the JET. Off the shelf PROMs are rarely matched to the engine/fuel system/cam for maximum results.

Your converter stall speed might be in question, but you'll need to know the axle ratio first.

Take a good look around the car and get used to driving it for a while. Experiment with teh timing. Your setup might be better with an adjustable fuel pressure regulator, and if you have an AFPR and pressure gauge, you might want to experiment there as well.

Good luck!

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Later,
Vader
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"Let the bodies hit the floor!"
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Steve10

Thanks, Vader. I ordered the Camaro Performance Handbook for 1982-1992 from Barnes & Noble today. Mustangs have a similar handbook, so I figured I'll read this cover to cover and feel much more comfortable with the 3rd gen f-body.

For now, all I know is the heads are aluminum and the porting was an option at Scroggin-Dickey for the crate engine he chose. The package was supposed to produce 400+hp.