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Fairly sure it is an 86 engine that was built for drag racing.

    This would generally mean we have no idea what the makeup might be; and the original year of production is irrelevant.  So what camshaft is in that engine now? 

But using a composite gear is compatible with everything so I am leaning toward that option than risking premature wear of one of the gears.

    The advent of the "composite" gears was/is due to the flood of import camshaft cores and that no one knows what'll work with what!  And I've been aware of many a scenario where they "didn't" work 

     And believe it or not, in the earlier renditions of the hydraulic-roller from Ford they initially utilized a "bronze" gear; but that didn't work to well in the long-haul, as anybody whom had used them with their mechanical roller cam could have told them! 

    Scott.

I've interrogated my father about the camshaft but he's turning 98 in April and doesn't remember anymore. When I pull the Pertronix I can gauge what sort of gear it has and also check for wear and if all seems good, I will go with the same gear which I suspect is steel. I am willing to sacrifice some performance in exchange for more predictability on the road. I'm not doing holeshots with the car and not breaking down while on the move is preferable to top end power.

Converting the original ford ignition to the MSD can be tricky.

The Ford is actually a 6 volt system. The wire that supplies power to the system is connected to the ignition switch which is 12 volts. But it is connected to a pink resistance wire that reduces that voltage. It will be 9 volts cranking but is actually a 6 volt supply running.

The MSD will actually run if connected to that resistance wire but it will cause it to fail within almost a predictable period of time.

IF you want to run the MSD, then you need to run a new 12v wire from the ignition switch.

Without actually seeing your set up, by the failure description of yours, I would expect to find that it runs off the original pink resistance wire.


I prefer the points system. I don't put on enough mileage to make it a burden to run it. Frankly, I think that the Ford dual points gives equal voltage to the plugs as any aftermarket system does.


You are going to need to source a "yellow top" Ford coil to use with your new Ford distributor.

Points for the win. They worked. They won races as part of a system back in the 60s. You and Uncle Tony agree.

A "mid-80's 302", . . . . . well '85 was the first year for "hydraulic-roller camshafts" in the "5.0" ("302"), so be sure that yours is such.  Then if it "is" the O.E.M. steel-billet hydraulic-roller camshaft, then yes, you will need to utilized the appropriate "steel" distributor driven gear vs. the older "cast iron" gear as was of previous flat-tappet usage. 

    Scott.

Fairly sure it is an 86 engine that was built for drag racing. But using a composite gear is compatible with everything so I am leaning toward that option than risking premature wear of one of the gears.  I will have to change out the Flamethrower coil too so as not to burn up the distributor. Something that runs 9 volts rather than 12.

The offending part.

Just wondering, why did you go back to points?  I have never ran Pertronix in my shelby.

I had my Hertz spontaneously quit on me on two separate occasions, one time being on the Interstate at speed. I would have to pull over and once it cooled down it would start again. I replaced the small module in the Pertronix billet distributor the first time it quit and the problem went away. For a while. A few years later it did it again and once more I replaced the module inside the distributor and it solved the problem for a while. There is a third wire that gets spliced to the ignition switch but after reading about many others having Pertronix problems I am going to revert to older technology. Yes, points need more maintenance but it isn't difficult maintenance. And they are easy to replace. Condensers can go bad but they are plentiful at swap meets and likely eBay too.  Plus it looks more stock in the engine bay even though the script should read FoMoCo but those FoMoCo factory installed distributors are hard to find and tend to be rather expensive. I can live with a Motorcraft one.

I am done with Pertronix. Going to use a dual points distributor now and picked up this Motorcraft dual points distributor today in what appears to be excellent shape. Looks like the code on it says 3D8 in addition to the C5OF12127 which I am told is an early 70s replacement for the HiPo. Only wondering if I should swap out the gear on it given my current engine in the Hertz is a mid to late 80s 302 with a roller cam in it. But it also has roller rockers. Not sure if a roller cam and roller rockers can coexist but definitely has the roller rockers. The gear on a distributor has to match the gear on the camshaft from what I have researched and recently learned. The distributors from that era were mostly cast iron gears and the gear on an 80s Mustang 302 is steel? Therefore change out to a melonized gear?

Yes, I see the wider application of such a scope for hard-to-find nuts and bolts that fall around the engine but fail to hit the floor.  Also cylinder bores as well.  This borescope had a usb connector that I used on my laptop.  A phone connector would be even better for portability purposes. 

I was loaned a borescope camera from a neighbor up the street because I was curious how the "hats" looked inside the cowl area which are apparently notorious for rusting and leaking water into the cabin of the car.  The borescope is 7 mm in diameter or a 1/4 inch across.  It would not fit inside the thin bars of the grill but I was able to get it through the hole where the windshield washer fluid jets are screwed when I removed them.  The results were very pleasing to the eye though I was not able to snake it around the other side. I was able to see the condition of about half of the base on each hat (passenger and driver sides) where they are welded.  California car and it shows.  See photos attached hereto and made a part hereof.  I love everything about car 843. 

There should also be the crank balancer washer and the thin gears and chain in the pile. The block was standard bore. The original rocker nuts were worn out and kept backing off so I added the poly locks. If you look at the baffles in the open letter Buddy Bar valve covers you'll see where they were kissing them. I had only looked at the Ford VIN stamp which by the way is 6R09K...... OK I wont tell. Casting and date stamps weren't a thing at the time. When I got the car it had a steel pan. I found an original T pan that had a patch where a rod had ventilated it but never put it on.
PS - you need to add some gold stripes the the red engine stand.

I will need to check for the gears and chain.  I lost the camshaft in a move.  I cannot account for where it went.  My father gave me a hard time about it and would periodically ask me if I found the camshaft.  Is the original camshaft so important to the engine.  The lobes wear out I thought.  Anyway, it's MIA.  I like the polylock feature and will keep it.  I have the Ford VIN committed to memory.  I was grilled about my Ford VIN and he chided me for not knowing it stat.  And yes, gold stripes on the engine stand would be a good addition.  I will see what I can find.  Buying your car became an integral part of my life and never regretted it one bit.  The Hertz is literally the car that survived three marriages.

Thanks Roy.

Presented by Legendary Motorcar

I always enjoy these adventures as they unfold, are you going back to the factory specifications?

That makes the most sense. Except for the Poly Locks as they are called. I will be hunting for a Cobra T pan I suppose. And a FoMoCo dual point distributor specific for a 66 HiPo.

It looks like the oil pan rail stamping is
6A12B with a couple of cross engravings

Richard, if you decide to use the "Poly Locks" for the valve adjustment Summit has a set of valve cover gaskets from a company called TransDapt, they are 5/16 thick and allow use of the original valve cover with the metal shield/baffles still installed
Part Number: TRD-9646

Thanks Steve. I see no reason not to keep them. The block is missing two so I will find a suitable replacement and use the gaskets. Thank you very much for the part number.

Engine asting date: 6A5
              C5AE8015E

Assembly date: 6A12D

Heads:         19 5L5 passenger side
               19 5L4 driver's side

Harmonic balancer: K5

Timing cover:    C50E6059A2
Casting date:    65