Timing on a 2010 f150 4.6 2v

[Justin337]

I have just finished fully breaking in my 4.6 2v and I'm ready to start dialing the motor in. It's currently using a tune the previous owner had on it as I don't have a stock tune (the only change I've made is for the 4.10s and tire). The previous owner did have it stroked however motor was blown so had to bore it and ended up swapping rods as well.

On WOT pulls I'm seeing 0 degrees of timing at 1500 rpm and total timing climbs to 16 at 5500 rpm. How much total timing should I be aiming for (on 87 but plan to use 91 or 93)? I assume closer to the MBT table but I was thinking of increasing the portion of the spark table used in WOT by 2 degrees and seeing what happens.

This is a fully built motor (I will list most of what is done below), however, I have also reduced compression from 9.4:1 to ~8.9 or 9:1 planning for boost in the future. I assume I need to increase the timing to the vacuum side of the graph as well but have no idea what to look for or what that effects.

Motor Details: (Built with intent to turbo but have to custom fab something)
4.6 2v SOHC in/out of a 2010 F150 XL RCSB
Eagle stroker crank (3.75 stroke, 4340 Steel)
Eagle Rods (5.850 H-Beam)
Manely Pistons, 2618 alum (-23CC , 3.582)
Bored 30 over
Comp 262AH cams (278LB springs)
Ported PI heads
9:1 Compression ratio
Stock truck intake
Stock 36LB injectors

Files to show timing if anyone wants it,

1st hard ht ex410.hplCurrent.hpt

[B E N]

No one can tell you the timing for your combo and location. Do full throttle pulls and read a plug, add or subtract timing as necessary. If you have a dyno do pulls and see where peak power comes in based on timing, or take it to a track and add timing until you see the MPH stop climbing then pull it back to the lowest reading where you hit that MPH. Work your way from low to high for safety.

You can use stock timing as a reference, but with your modifications you will probably be a couple degrees different one way or another. Fuel quality will play a roll as well.

[Justin337]

No one can tell you the timing for your combo and location. Do full throttle pulls and read a plug, add or subtract timing as necessary. If you have a dyno do pulls and see where peak power comes in based on timing, or take it to a track and add timing until you see the MPH stop climbing then pull it back to the lowest reading where you hit that MPH. Work your way from low to high for safety.

You can use stock timing as a reference, but with your modifications you will probably be a couple degrees different one way or another. Fuel quality will play a roll as well.

How much timing change is a good point to start with? Just 1 or 2 degrees at a time? I'm also road tuning so is it better to watch MPH or try to watch mass air flow and try looking for more airflow?

[B E N]

I think plug reads are the best way to go for full throttle optimization if you are street tuning, load up your tools and some fresh plugs, get to operating temperature while finding a safe road with little/no traffic (a drag strip is even better). Load a fresh plug in the easiest cylinder to get to and do full throttle blast, shut it down and carefully pull over (no power steering and limited power brakes). Pull the plug, look at the timing indicator on the plug and let it tell you what changes to make, do it again with fresh plugs until you have full throttle optimized. Start a 5-6 degrees below stock, small changes are best until you know what's going on. Excess timing can kill an engine ricky-tick. You can interpolate the map from your full throttle and idle timing based on a stock timing map and adders.

[Thatwhite5.0]

Here's you a starting point, you need higher octane. Do not run this with regular octane. I just copied the spark over. You might need to adjust your airflow tables. they look a little low at idle.


f150-spark-timing-5.8-stroker-customgrindcam.hpt

[Justin337]

Here's you a starting point, you need higher octane. Do not run this with regular octane. I just copied the spark over. You might need to adjust your airflow tables. they look a little low at idle.


f150-spark-timing-5.8-stroker-customgrindcam.hpt

Sorry for not responding sooner I was out of town. I looked over the tune you posted and I can see a large change in spark timing compared to my current timing. The best fuel around me is 93 from sams. Would that be high enough octane or should I grab some octane booster or even some race gas of a specific octane?

When you're referencing the airflow tables I assume that's for calibrating the MAF sensor (edit found the tables for idle, I will be looking into it). I will also try the timing with new plugs like Ben suggested however I have to wait for the weather to clear up as my tires are not a fan of the rain.


(Side question)
I saw you increased the Enable RPM Error to 400, I've tried to Google and look into it but can't find any info on it other than what HP says. From what I can tell it's how much the ECM try's to control the idle rpm, would that be along the lines of what it's doing?

[Justin337]

After being able to do a few runs I think I'm doing something wrong. I have been adding timing to what I have been calling the WOT portion of the spark table (aka the .9 and 1.0 load area). I have seen no spark change, and upon inspection I found 3 different load parameters in the scanner, namely Calculated Engine Load, Absolute Load, and Air Load (which I just discovered). My previous assumption had been that when I was at 100kpa I would be at aprox 1.0 load. Are any of these loads the same as the load displayed in the spark table? I'm trying to change spark only for WOT and go from there.

[B E N]

Log spark source.

I usually use air load

[Justin337]

I don't see a spark source in the VCM, however I don't have a lot of map points. Just borderline and MBT.