1982 Bronco XLT

[Weberman]

Went out and let it idle and everything was fine. Did the 2 mile loop and it's still popping.. and it wants to move. It'll pull hard, pop, then loose some power then pull hard again, and repeat. It's not like a loud pop either, just a interruption in the exhaust and a faint pop..it also only happens on the passenger side..

[grumpin]

You could move your crankshaft and see how the rotor in the distributor responds.

On my 460 it’s a 15/16 socket. Don’t know about your 302.

Just thinking maybe something is amiss in the distributor. Might also check the pickup in the distributor.

[Gary Lewis]

I think you may have either a DS-II module problem or a problem with the pickup in the coil.  If you have a salvage around pick up a blue-grommet module, and preferably one from Motorcraft.  Swap that in and see if it changes anything.

[Weberman]

Well when I took someone along to listen to it for their opinion, it really didn't do it that much.. it did it a couple times and they were lighter, still noticeable. All seem to think ignition though. Not sure why I only hear it on the passenger side though. Duals that exit out the side sure are loud on the trip..but are helpful in some cases.

[FuzzFace2]

I have gone through so many different threads its hard to know just what all you have done to the truck to this point but have you had the valve covers off and if so with out the motor running crank the motor over and see if all the rockers are moving the same amount.
A flat cam shaft lobe can cause some popping.

Cap, rotor, wires and plugs been replaced?
If plugs what plugs are you using hope nothing other than the normal copper plugs, them fancy plugs can cause issues.
BTW I have had newish plugs in a motor and 1 went bad. It idled great but bring the RPM up and it would pop out the exh. Because the motor sits long times between running I was thinking a stuck valve but a compression test did not show that.

If the wires were not replaced you could be getting cross firing.
An easy check on wires for leakage is when it is dark use a spray bottle of water and spray the wires from cap to plugs.
If you see a light show they are leaking and need to be replaced.

Just a few things off the top of my head.
Dave ----

[Weberman]

I would say it's definitely ignition. Though a rocker did come loose on that side when I first got this motor in. May check it again but there's no other signs like before when it was tapping.

But I say ignition because on the way to the tire shop to get it aligned and bushings put in, the slight pop got less and a new problem presented. It started randomly cutting out like someone was turning the key on and off really quick. It would do it for like 10 seconds every now and then. It wouldn't surprise me if the module is bad again. I ordered another AC Delco one from oreillys.. double the price but at least I can switch them out with the warranty.

[Gary Lewis]

If you are consistently losing ignition modules you may either have the wrong coil or a wiring problem.

[Weberman]

I'm gonna put the AC Delco one on and see from there.  I know it's new but I'm not gonna completely trust the Standard one when it has 1.8 stars and different issues from high RPMs to just idle or weird things here and there in the reviews.

I did have a fuel injected TFI coil and I have a new one from Holley but it's still the same TFI style.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Yeah, that low impedance coil is going to overwhelm the switching transistor in a DSII module.

[Gary Lewis]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Yeah, that low impedance coil is going to overwhelm the switching transistor in a DSII module.

Yep.  That's why the modules are failing.  The resistance of the TFI coil is just too low and, therefore, the current the module has to sink is too high.  It is simply a question of when the module will fail rather than if.

[Weberman]

I don't have the DSII though, I have the HEI module.

[Gary Lewis]

Oops, I forgot that.  

[Frank Wyatt]

The HEI module must be attached to some sort of metal to dissipate the heat from the current. If not it will get hot and fail. Get a new module and a heat sink for it or at least attach it to the metal of the fender as the plastic fender liner will not work as a heat sink. However, unless you are running a lot of boost pressure or really high compression the stock DS II  module will work just fine with the matching DS II coil and will plug right in.

[Weberman]

The heatsink came in today and the AC Delco module should be here tomorrow.
Should the heatsink be enough or should I maybe attach it to the fender for possible more heat absorption?

[Weberman]

Tire shop called and said they can't do much because the driver side bearings are out. Guess we'll see about new bearings then.

[Gary Lewis]

If you can attach the heat sink to the fender that's what I'd recommend.  The cooler you can keep a semiconductor the longer it'll live.

On the bearings, it is good they caught them now.  

[ArdWrknTrk]

Sorry about that...

GM modules should be okay as long as you have enough heatsink.
An old style CPU heatsink seems like it should be enough.
I just don't know how many watts your setup needs to dissipate.

[Weberman]

Hopefully tomorrow.. they tried taking the hub off but didn't feel good on it so they're trying to soak the bolts first. Are they special bolts or could I order them somewhere? We just briefly discussed options. I think I'm right, but that bolts into the rotor right? So I could buy new rotors?

[Gary Lewis]

I'm not sure I understand what bolts you are talking about.  But, I think you mean the lug bolts as the rotor is held to the hub by them.  They just press in/out so you can swap them out.

[Weberman]

The 4x4 lockout hubs, sorry not the hub itself