I have a RAC maxi-tune, I have had it for years and I forgot how to hook it up. It has a black clip, a red clip, and a yellow clip and it has another wire for checking amps which is a flat piece of metal with a notch on one and and thumbscrew on the other. It has a knob for dwell, tach, points (good bad and open),a nd amps. Can someone please tell me how to hook it up for checkig points and dwell? Thanks
You hook it up to the + and - on the coil. I would assume Red for + and black for -. I lost my dwell meter. Wish I had it back!:rant:
I have no idea what the yellow is for. To check dwell you just need the black and red. To check if points are good or bad, set the dwell. If the car runs and revs good then your points are good.:3gears:
Nope, One lead goes to the negative side of the coil, the other goes to ground. The black will most likely be ground. The red or yellow lead will go to the negative side of the coil. See which one gives you a dwell reading.
Dang, you're right Larry. Been a while since I've used mine too. Since every piece of aftermarket MSD ignition has failed on my car, I need to buy another dwell meter.
:laugh: I've helped several guys near me who still have points, Chebby guys included. I still have my Dwell/Tach, and I still use it. I never had a problem with points. They are very reliable.
have to disagree. yea, if you drive your car a couple times a week only in nice weather points will do. start using the car as a daily driver, in all kinds of weather, points will leave you stranded sooner or later.
No way. My daily driver used points for 10 years through many bad winters. They never left me stranded. I can't say that about the HEI I used for a few years. It left me stranded a many times because of a module or pick up coil.
I don't think so. My MSD distributor left me stranded, and my MSD box left me with no spark. Each separate occasions. What a bunch of downright trash! Guess how many times Points has left me stranded. ZERO:bla::bla::bla:
yes, HEI had it's share of problems too. you never got stranded with points, consider yourself lucky. as for points versus HEI for reliability, it's not even close. i guess in the 70's when the GM, FORD AND CHRYSLER engineers switched from points to electronic ignition they were all wrong? i don't know how many years you've been wrenching, but after ELECTRONIC IGNITION APPEARED in the mid 70's cars were much less prone to breaking down. that's a fact.
No, points just required more maintenance and adjustment. I changed them once a year when I tuned my engine up. Electronic ignition required no maintenance and provided better ignition performance. Electronic ignition handles higher current and can provide a hotter spark that jumps a bigger gap. This provides better efficiency. There is no question that electronic ignition does the job better than points. I can honestly say that points never left me stranded, but I'm the kind of guy who maintains my cars and does the preventative maintenance that is required. We all know people who drive their cars never changing oil, and just put gas in it until something goes wrong. For people like that, yes, electronic ignition would keep them going longer until something else failed. Back in the day, you replaced the points and spark plugs once a year. If you did that, you NEVER had a problem. I never did.
One problem with anything mechanical is the tendency for folks to disregard prescribed maintenence/replacement. Points and condensers failed because they were given too much service life, and often the fault wasn't with the points themselves, but the rubbing blocks that wore out...thus a new set of points didn't even have a chance of doing their job. The time came that the electronics were inexpensive enough for the OEMs to bring the electronic ignition technology to the masses, of course with its own share of problems. Like anything else, the OEM electronics had their troubles early on which have been improved upon since then. Another, unrelated concern is the durability of the aftermarket electronic ignition parts available. It seems from what I've heard that what were once very durable items built by reputable aftermarket companies may have suffered in recent years for various reasons. Devon
I've been running the same set of points since I got the car in 2006, except for one year when I ran a MSD distributor. I got a new set of points in the glovebox, so if the old set fails I will be ready to go. Now what's wrong with that?:Brow:
Nothing, unless you don't have a new condenser in there too. Us old folks kept emory paper in the glove box as well. If you're keen on points, go with a dual point setup for better coil saturation, which is what the electonic setups excel at (at least they did). Devon
so far I figured out how to use the points function. Yellow lead to negative coil black on ground turn ignition to on. If the points are open just turn the starter a click till they close. It will read good bad or open. Mine are good. It was getting dark outside so I willl do it tomorrow. Cooling flush, then dwell, timing and carb tuning. I have to confess something.... i feel bad.. but.. i went to the autozone and bought a new meter. Funny thing is I hooked it up as per the manual and it didnt give a reading on the points. I hooked up my old one and it said my points are good. I dont know.. maybe I got a bad meter ill have to take it back. Ill compare the number with the old meter and see how they match up.
Good morning! We're working on resurrecting an airport tug (small trucks that pull planes) and we're now at that stage where we're checking if the dwell is within spec. We have an RAC Maxi Tune but I can't make sense of the wiring. It doesn't help that two of the clips appear to be missing. Based on the earlier discussion, I suppose these are the black and red clips as the only one left on the tester has a yellow sheath. I hope you can help me with the following questions: How can I safely identify which is which (black vs. red). Once its identified and I have it hooked up to the correct parts, what do I do next? Based on earlier posts, the yellow lead is connected to negative coil and the black is the ground. Are these the only lines that need to be linked? Do I just turn the engine or do I run it on idle? If the dwell is out of spec, what do I adjust? So sorry if for the elementary questions. All these are pretty new to me. (But I'm eager to learn!) Thanks a lot! Manolet Ramos Manila, Philippines
Hello, Manolet One of the guys that knows your answer will be along, before too long. I am out of practice on setting points. I switched my Buick over to solid state distributor. And, I sold, my 73 Olds 3 years ago. So, it's been since then, that, I fooled around with points. What, kind of engine on that tug? I remember, seeing one with a Dodge Slant Six. For me, the Slant Six was the easiest engine to maintain and work on (not that, I worked on a lot of engines, it's just that I used to do my own auto maintenance). Welcome to V8Buick.
