Firing order Ford 300 cu in straight six

That engine (and the closely related 240 in³ version) wasn't introduced until the 1965 models. We had the 240.
 
Originally Posted by Chris142
Don't all inline 6 use the same 153624? As for which is #1 that depends where the last monkey put the distributer in at.
I have an ancient Motor Auto Repair Manual - 1977-83 Models. The specs for the Ford, Chevy, and Mopar inline 6-cylinder engines all list the firing order as 1-5-3-6-2-4. Unfortunately, it covers cars only (no trucks), and so the 300 is not listed, but I would guess that the 300 is the same as the Ford 200 and 250 listed. Also unfortunately, I can't find my big yellow Chilton's that covered domestic cars of the '60s and '70s. Did I actually give it away at some point?

Donald, as far as determining which port on the distributor cap is #1, is the distributor in the engine, and are the wires attached? Now that you have the firing order, you may be able to trace things even if some of the wires are disconnected. The distributor shaft and rotor turn CW as viewed from above.

Per the diagram in my book (pertaining to the '77 - '83 Ford 200 and 250), the distributor is on the driver's side of the engine, toward the front of the engine. The #5 post would be closest to the front of the car, and the #2 post would be farthest away, opposite #5.
 
Rotate the crankshaft so the timing mark is at zero. Take the cap off the rotor will be pointing at either 1 or 6. Now you can just guess with the wires. There's a 50/50 chance if it doesn't start, move all the wires around 180 degrees and try again. Or do what the Supermotors post said and blow air into cylinder 1 to see if the valves are closed.
 
Originally Posted by Number_35
Originally Posted by Chris142
Don't all inline 6 use the same 153624?...
I have an ancient Motor Auto Repair Manual - 1977-83 Models. The specs for the Ford, Chevy, and Mopar inline 6-cylinder engines all list the firing order as 1-5-3-6-2-4.... I would guess that the 300 is the same as the Ford 200 and 250 listed. ...
The 200 and closely related 250³ were a different design than the 300 (and 240). It may not matter, if Chris is correct about all I6's. My owner's manual for a 1962 Chevrolet shows the same order, and that was a different design (specifically, the last of the ancient "Stove Bolt" Sixes) than 1970s Chevrolet engines.
 
Originally Posted by CR94
Originally Posted by Number_35
Originally Posted by Chris142
Don't all inline 6 use the same 153624?...
I have an ancient Motor Auto Repair Manual - 1977-83 Models. The specs for the Ford, Chevy, and Mopar inline 6-cylinder engines all list the firing order as 1-5-3-6-2-4.... I would guess that the 300 is the same as the Ford 200 and 250 listed. ...
The 200 and closely related 250³ were a different design than the 300 (and 240). It may not matter, if Chris is correct about all I6's. My owner's manual for a 1962 Chevrolet shows the same order, and that was a different design (specifically, the last of the ancient "Stove Bolt" Sixes) than 1970s Chevrolet engines.
It's pretty much determined by the architecture of the inline 6 - the cranks are always such that 1 & 6 are at TDC at the same time, so when one is at the top of the compression stroke, the other is at the top of the exhaust stroke. 120 degrees later, 2 & 5 come up to TDC together, again one at the top of its compression stroke, and the other at the top of its exhaust stroke. And 120 degrees after that, 3 & 4 come up to TDC together.

By definition, Cylinder 1 is fired first, so we know that Cylinder 6 will come back to TDC 360 degrees later to be fired, so we know that the firing order will be 1 - x - x - 6 - x - x.

The 2nd cylinder to fire will be #5 or #2. Engine designers generally try to not have adjacent cylinders fire consecutively, and #1 has just fired, so In this case, it will be #5 that fires 2nd, instead of #2 (which we know will be back to TDC, this time at the top of its compression stroke, 360 degrees later). Anyway, we now have 1 - 5 - x - 6 - 2 - x.

The 3rd cylinder to fire will be #3 or #4. As before, #5 has just fired, and we want some separation, so we won't fire #4 - it will be at the top of its exhaust stroke. Therefore, #3 will fire third. 1 - 5 - 3 - 6 - 2 - 4.

I think the only way there could be a different firing order would be if for some reason a different crank configuration were used (e.g. with 1 & 6 followed by 3 & 4 followed by 2 & 5) - but I've never heard of such a beast. Just checked the 'net for the firing order on a Datsun inline-6, the only non-domestic straight six I could think of offhand - it's also 1 - 5 - 3 - 6 - 2 - 4.
 
Jaguar had the alternate 6 cyl firing order - but they had No1 as the rear cyl....so it was still 1 5 3 6 2 4
 
If you numbered the Ford from back to front it would work out exactly the same.

As @Number_35 said the only way this would change would be to reverse the direction of rotation or make the crankshaft differently so that the middle cylinders reach TDC next after the end ones.
 
Decades ago, I was in automotive tech school. We had an old, very experienced instructor who said that "ALL STRAIGHT SIX ENGINES HAVE A FIRING ORDER OF 1-5-3-6-2-4."
I think some older, more obscure engines (IH perhaps?) instruct you to put the timing light on #6 cylinder, but basically they all have the same firing order, or if you are completely in the dark, it'd be safe to use that order.
Years ago, someone online had a big argument with the other posters about that. He claimed that an inline six cylinder engine made by either Wisconsin or Continental had a different firing order.
I asked him to show me proof of that, but he couldn't do it, so take that as to what it's worth.
 
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