66 Electra 401. First time I've ever tried to replace the points of any car. Statement: I installed new points, condenser, cap, rotor, wires, plugs. Gapped the plugs at 0.035". Checked the dwell with a newly purchased digital dwell meter from Harbor Freight with +/- 2.5% error. Dwell showed 30.2 degrees. Question: Do I need to use feeler gauges and check the gap or is that taken care of by using the dwell meter and adjusting with an allen wrench to set at 30 degrees when car is running? In other words do I need to do the dwell thing AND check the gap with feeler gauges??? I noticed that the 66 chassis manual mentioned 30 deg dwell but doesn't make mention of the gap. On the other hand, the owners manual shows both dwell and gap (0.016" if I recall correctly). Bottom line, car still runs poorly and the problem seems to be magnified when driving at higher speeds on the highway (i.e. rough-- like it is missing). On my way home from long road trip (six hours) last night, I made an adjustment to the timing by ear and advanced it. This did help to increase the power quite significantly, but I still have that roughness (though less than before I made the timing adjustment). I realize this roughness/shaking/missing could be for many reasons. I'm thinking it may also be a carb problem. The previous owner didn't drive it much and maybe some gaskets on the carb dried...who knows...also I smell a faint odor of gas when I lift the hood. I also see a very little stain/wetness near carb but not sure if this is related to the problem. Also changed fuel filter. Anyway, your thoughts are appreciated, but I'm primarily interested in knowing if one should set the dwell AND gap OR just the dwell OR just the gap. Thanks for your help. Sincerely, CORN-fused in Maryland
The meter will provide what you need. You adjust for gap with feeler gauge or with the dwell meter. Engine doesn't have to be running, just turning over with power to adjust with the meter. What is your timing set at?
One thing you didn't mention was vacuum advance. I assume your distributor has a vacuum line to it. Also another thing to check is the centrifugal advance in the distributor. Rev the engine while observing the timing and see if it advances. Same with the vacuum advance. Reconnect the vacuum line to see if the timing advances. Initial timing should be set with the vacuum disconnected and plugged. Fun stuff to do really abut don't get your fingers in the belts/ pulleys!
Yeah, I didn't quite know what to think when I saw that earlier. :idea2: :laugh: One of the first things I learned was plugs and points. But damn, when you think about it, points started to go out of fashion 35+ years ago.
I hope I answered the question correct. Wait, what was the question? Had some kind of point. Didn't want to dwell on it though. Exciting news for me today was getting mail from the scooter store. Time for my nap.
I don't mind being called an oldtimer, I qualify! Just don't start calling me a geezer, then I would be offended.:bla:
I didn't check the compression yet, but that is something I'll put on my list. Thanks for your input. Last night I discovered that my timing was so far advanced that it was off the scale. Once I retarded it to the 2-1/2 BTDC the problem was 90% resolved. What an idiot I am. Should have done that before posting!!!
I had a 73 Olds for 26 years. And, my dad had several Cadillacs with the distributor window. I used the window , an allen wrench and , dwell meter to set the points. I didn't use feeler gauges on the cars with distibutor windows. The 55 Buick does not have a distributor window. Feeler gouges were required to set points when the stock distributor was in place. I replaced the distributor with solid state unit. the new distributor works well, with no issues.
