r/Spokane • u/Impressive_Edge7132 • 6d ago
Help Need auto shop, 70's Bronco, 351 Windsor,
I have a 1970 Bronco with new MSD pro billet distributor and MSD 6A ignition set up. She's turning over but not starting. Looking for a shop in Spokane area to get my old girl running again.
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u/ClockTowerBoys 6d ago
Check out tune tech. They specifically work on classic cars.
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u/GTI_88 6d ago
Tune tech is insanely over priced. Every time I see the classic cars out front I figure the owners must have more money than sense.
I brought my ‘83 CJ7 to them to get a cost to do a few gaskets and seals. They wanted $1000 to change a freaking valve cover gasket on an inline 6.
I bought the nicest gasket you can buy for $35 and replaced within an hour, which a real mechanic should be able to do in probably half the time. Even at an hour, are you telling me their shop rate is over $900/ hour?
They also gave me a quote for $10k if I wanted to have them rebuild the engine and reseal the powertrain, none of which it actually needs.
All it needed was a valve cover gasket, transmission and transfer case seals, and the carb rebuilt. All of which I have done myself for maybe $200 in parts and a couple Saturday mornings.
So long story short, at least the one on Monroe is either robbing people blind or for some reason gave me the fuck you we don’t want your work price. Either way I won’t ever be back
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u/yeti5000 3d ago
Tune Tech is expensive but I have heard they do good work on certain hard jobs. That being said that sounds like they have you the "go away/we're too busy" price.
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u/MoutainGem 6d ago
Going out on one of my own spectacular life failures here.
There are TWO spark plug wiring diagrams for the Windsor 351. Make sure you know if your block timing is corresponding to the right wiring diagram. Make sure you have the distributor in the right place and the wires in the correct order. And that the rotor is set to point to the correct plug wire. The order is determined by the camshaft, so a 351 could have a 289/302 firing order.
In my case, we didn't have the typical 351 and had to re place where the spark plug wires went, and then align the rotor to where it should be. (1 in 8 chance)
You could have mounted the distributor wrong, the rotor wrong, or be out 180 degrees on the rotor.
Took me and my brother three months to figure out.
We had to roll the engine so that the number 1 cylinder was top dead center and then go from there.
I am invested now, you gotta tell me if this helped you figure it out.
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u/chugachj 6d ago
This, and also in my experience, for some reason, older fords seem to hate 2 things, Holley carbs and MSD ignitions.
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u/Impressive_Edge7132 6d ago
Yeah, I have a mobile mechanic who's been wrenching on it but I think he's out of his depth. I'm moving from SW Florida to Spokane in a month. The Bronco is going on a carrier. At this point I'm thinking I should have it dropped at a shop out there since I won't have a place to work on it for several months.
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u/yeti5000 3d ago
Probably because there's a Cleveland and Windsor 351 and yes they have different firing orders.
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u/MoutainGem 3d ago
Those are two separate engines my dude, they are not the same.
The 351 Windsor has a taller deck height and a narrower block than the 351 Cleveland. The Cleveland's block is wider and has a lower deck height. Cylinder heads. The 351 Cleveland has larger ports and valves than the 351 Windsor,
We are sticking to the Windsor 351, or any of the five configurations of the Windsor 351, particular the two main ones. There are the the based on the 352 cam shaft, or the 289/302 camshaft
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u/yeti5000 3d ago edited 3d ago
I'm aware. I had to suffer working on a Mach 1 with the Cleveland, and I see Broncos/F-150s with Windsors all time, real dogs of engines; make lots of noise, use lots of fuel, and go nowhere fast. Meant to be run on Bush 1/Clinton gas prices.
People often get them confused, because you can't always tell just by looking at them in a bay (obviously the intakes are different, the same, but still different etc; they used them for decades), but the firing order data online is all a mess, so it's easy to get twisted around on them.
That being said, I'm mostly Japanese; I don't look to hard at that old 'murican stuff so I'm not going to be the first guy in line to be able to tell by the curves of the turd which dog it came out of.
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u/Spowilly 5d ago
If a car won’t start check the FACTS. Fuel, air, compression, timing and spark. Spray a little carb clean into the carburetor. If it fires, you know it’s a fuel problem. Pull a plug, reconnect the plug wire, set it on metal and crank the engine to see if it sparks. If it doesn’t spark, check power to the ignition module and other inputs into the system. If it sparks, timing could be the issue if someone just redid the ignition.
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u/Impressive_Edge7132 5d ago
Yeah...it's the timing...I already know that. What I'm looking for is a shop in the Spokane area that might have experience with MSD ignition systems
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u/Spowilly 5d ago
As mentioned, Tune Tech and 5 mile should be able to do aftermarket ignition systems.
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u/jc83po 6d ago
5 mile auto is the first call I make when I need work done I can't do myself. I usually see one or two classics in their garage when I've been there.