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Posted by Sherman in Idaho [24.32.202.166] on Friday, February 22, 2013 at 11:48:07 :
In Reply to: Re: Distributor points and dwell posted by Galen [128.229.4.2] on Friday, February 22, 2013 at 11:07:24 :
I've gotten it close enough to run decent, without a timing light or feeler gauge, just by setting the dwell to what looked reasonable (points open and closed about an equal amount as the distributor turns, and then turning the engine by hand and adjusting the distributor so the points open just as the mark on the pulley goes past the pointer. With the distributor cap off, and the ignition on, you can hear a little pop when the points open, even if you're turning the engine slowly. This should be close enough to get it running. Obviously it doesn't take into account vacuum or centrifugal advance, but I'm not sure I really have a functional version of either one on any of my running rigs. No doubt if I tweaked things better I'd get more power and better fuel economy, but it's amazing how non-picky these engines are if your only goal is to get it running. Lousy compression, stale gas, or bad timing never seem to be much of a problem. I've had some problems with a weak spark, but it was probably so weak that it wasn't sparking at all.