hey… any guys with a 302 out there… what is your timing set at?? mine is definately off and i have the tools and timing light to reset it… i just dont know what to set it at. what are you guys running at??? any suggestions?
10* is the most common starting point on 87 octane.
pop the timing switch out (knob, connector, whatever you want to call it), set at 10* which is i believe factory spec. you can probably bump it up to 13* and still be ok on 87, and can prob get away with 15* on 93. if the car is stock, id just set it at 10*
Uh… mike… its called the SPOUT.
noob.
And, WHENEVER you’re setting timing on your car, you HAVE to pull the SPOUT. I’m sorry, I assumed OP was aware of this.
Looks like this: 
Heres a link with pics. For any other mustang noobs (like mike 
)
ive honestly NEVER heard of it referred to as a spout. i actually dont think ive ever referred to it as anything…just knew you had to pull it out lol.
ok… im running 93 now. the car is all of a sudden running like garbage… its missing pretty bad. so im really hoping fixing the timing will make it bettter. so you think go with 15??
your timing shouldn’t just… fall out.
The car ran fine, now it isn’t. So unless someone fucked with the timing it should still be where it was. I think something else is wrong.
if you’r trouble shooting, start with spec. Go to 10*.
Also, Jack is right… it shouldn’t just go bad, unless you didn’t tighten the distributor retaining bolt.
Under what conditions is it missing? Certain RPM range? Or all over? Full throttle, or any throttle?
mine doesn’t look like that 
i’m not really sure what mine looks like. lol
its missing all over the rpm band. i mean it ran fine… not its searching for an idle and missing at all rpms. its running like garbage… so i figured first thought would be timing.
Sure, can’t hurt check timing. Should be 10* spout out.
But, i maintain that it prolly didn’t change on its own, if it was fine before.
Have you started looking for major vac leaks? Also an easy early step.
check the vacuum leaks as nikuk suggested, and make sure you check all the little ones that are connected to the EGR and all the other emission shit (located between the passenger side wheel well and firewall. Those tend to get dry rotted and crack really easy. also when was the last time you changed the plugs/wire/cap/rotor?
thats what it sounds like to me
sounds to me like the timing chain jumped a tooth
thats kinda what I was thinking. Was hoping for something easy tho.