Hi TimC. Everything you had said in the first paragraph is exactly accurate. Those are the exact steps I took and how executed the swap.

I have me a feeling it's 1 or 2 teeth off cause if how it's running...turning does change it, but not drastically, except it will die/Stall when turned counter clockwise, putters when turned too far clockwise.......

I also not certain on this but I had to remove the Cam Gear, perhaps it going in 180* the flipped lands the teeth differently???

Have you pulled the dist cap to see if there's any contact between the rotor and the cap?

If that looks good it's never a bad idea to pull the dist and check the drive gear. Best to do that now rather than have it eat a cam. Post pics of the gear and we can help identify if it looks OK.

If timing is uncertain I would advise rolling #1 up to TDC of the compression stoke and seeing where the rotor is pointing.  Typically when I pull a distributor I put the engine there so I know I won't be far off going back, even if I'm just reinstalling the same distributor.  Another trick you can use is moving the plug wires over a terminal if needed.  A lot of caps don't even have a #1 terminal marked, and those that do its nothing concrete; its just where the factory put the #1 wire and the manufacturer just made a faithful copy of the OEM part. 

M1Mustang69 wrote:

Ok, I will upload photos of the Dist. gear.  Both it and the Cam appear fine/good to me, but this is not my strong point. (see bottom of msg)

I would also like to add all the details now so you can all get a better understanding, and tell me if it's me, or this stuff is normal.

I also changed the Carburetor....It had a 600cfm Holley DP, and now has a Refinished and Rebuilt Holley 700 DP.
I did both at the same time.

So this being said, I think I may have been able to shift 1 tooth.....I watched a video on a very reputable ford 289/302 YouTube channel and he found TDC, then turned it to 5deg.....I replicated this and the rotor dropped in what appeared to be a more accurate place on the cap (looked relative to where I was as far as pointing direction on the intake)

I can say comfortably the "vibration and Diesel like sound" has improved, but not convinced it's entirely gone! The Car has a Different idle barking type sound coming from the exhaust (which is paired with the diesel sound, they're like one in the same)

SO, I quickly ran this distributor 'pre-gear removal and pre-tear down to change the Mag.Pickup" with the Edel 650 that was mounted at the time (same carb that was paired with he old ready to run) and this was not present.

Could the 700dp have changed things to this point? Would it change how the car idles and deliver this different over all sounding exhaust at ideal?
Furthermore, the passenger Mixture Screw renders Zero Changes; it's doing nothing in or out!

Thoughts?

I know it can change how it can/will change how it idles if there's a an issue or not set correctly........but I have swapped 6-8 carbs over the years on 2 of these cars (my 69 351W modified nearly identical to this 68 302) and have never had one simulate that "vibration/Light hammering sound".  I wonder if the Change Accoustics is coming from the Greater CFM movement??

As for why, I have my reasons and theories and I'd rather not get into it cause there 100,000 opinions on carburetors but when if you take the time to read/observe the differences performed by the professionals in a controlled environmemt taken from carbs 600-1000cfm max power drops are around 10hp/10ftlbs.......finding the sweatspot requires math and most likely trial and error......these tests mythbust "too much carburetor".....not saying your curves along with the rate which peak power is achieve do not change, but it's relative from swapping a Holley to a Edel


Anyhow, this isn't for validating a Carb choice or for carb to engine talk, it's how/why my engine has a vibration and barking/mild diesel type idle which ultimately doesn't fully go away even at raised RPM.  Something is askew!
Fyi I measured the Dist. Shaft lengths and they are the same. Was dropping the Dist. In at Piston 1 5deg higher than 0 wrong? It seemed to havw improved things slightly, could I still be a tooth off?  If I retard the timing by turning the dist. counter clockwise roughly 15deg the engine dies, should that happen with a dist. Rotation?  I don't recall it being that sensitive on my 69 351W

Yeah, I've heard all the arguments that you can't overcarb an engine.  The theory is that the engine only pulls what it "needs" from the carb regardless of size.  I don't think there's 100,000 opinions on carb sizing.  There's two: it matters and it doesn't.  I will agree that since different manufacturer's use different testing methods to detrmine carb size its not usually possible to directly compare one manufacturer's 600 to another's.  Actual flow measured at the same depression may show one flows 550 cfm and the other flows 675cfm.  The problem with dyno tests is they aren't real world, even when conditions are controlled.  Dyno tests miss things like throttle response, power coming off a corner, etc.  In the end, there's a lot of people who seem to have a vested interest convincing all of us that carb selection is a black art.  I promise that's not the case.

Keep in mind I didn't say the carb would affect how the engine "sounds".  I said it could effect the way it "idles".  I don't think the size of the carb is responsible for your issue, but the issue is that when you change multiple things at once its very hard to determine which change is causing your issue. 

I would therefore go back to the original carb and make sure your timing is set right with it first.  Then swap carbs if that's really what you feel you must do.  But I'm starting to wonder at motivation for the carb/distributor swap at this point.  Its seeming like maybe the engine wasn't making the power you thought it should, and that leads me down other diagnostic paths.  However first go back to the last known good combination and go from there.  Otherwise its a dart board method of problem solving, which is time and money consuming, to say nothing of frustrating. 
 

Take the time to make a piston stop!
EZ.....cheap and saves a LOT of head scratching later.
FIND TDC (FYI...I have never had much luck with the thumb-over-the-no.1-sparkplug-hole trick!)
Find TDC.......
Mark the balancer...better yet install a timing tape.
Pull the distrib. and re-install so the no.1 terminal has the "pointer' pointing at it.
Take your time cause it can be frustrating (butt that's normal!)
Don't tighten the distrb. bolt down......
turn the distrib. clock-wise  a dab (maybe a dab and a 1/2)
Hook up your timing light (DON'T TELL ME  you don't have a timing light!! 
Fire the engine.
Turn the distrib a little more or less to get the engine to idle right.
Once it warms up shine the light on the timing tape and read EXACTLY how much it is advance at idle.
If it still sounds and idles like a diesel.....you may have more problems than being out of time!
Too big or too small carb wouldn't make it sound like a diesel.
INSURE...you don't have a vacuum leak around the carb base!!
That's all I got.....
6sally6

BobE wrote:

I do not see in any of the posts that you verified the spark plug wires are going to the proper cylinders.  Just something to check.

 

I didn't remove/move any wires.  They are exactly where they were when the parts were removed to be replaced, at which the car was running to perfection.

Thank you 6Sally6, you're instructions are slightly different than MS's, the thing that sucks is I obviously do not know if the carb is set correctly yet......so how do you do 1 before the other ? 
I could grab a working carb off a running car and try it I guess 🤷🏻‍♂️

M1Mustang69 wrote:

BobE wrote:

I do not see in any of the posts that you verified the spark plug wires are going to the proper cylinders.  Just something to check.

 

I didn't remove/move any wires.  They are exactly where they were when the parts were removed to be replaced, at which the car was running to perfection.

Thank you 6Sally6, you're instructions are slightly different than MS's, the thing that sucks is I obviously do not know if the carb is set correctly yet......so how do you do 1 before the other ? 
I could grab a working carb off a running car and try it I guess 🤷🏻‍♂️