Re: Dwell Meter---point gap setting

Posted by carla on July 24, 1998 at 15:46:33

In Reply to: Re: Dwell Meter
posted by Glen Weilbaker on July 24, 1998 at 09:56:56

: : Thanks Glen,
: : By the way dwell is not the best way to adjust the points on a Model A. Since it is a four cylinder car which operates at very low RPMs and some of the distributor cams are of marginal quality just adjust the gap. If you want to know what the correct dwell for your car is then adjust the gap correctly then measure the dwell.
: : Bob
: Yes, that is very true. Also a dwell meter doesn't find cams that have varing lobes heights as found in some of the marginal quality cams. GW
hello, bob, and gw,
i was shown, years ago, a simple tool for setting up the breaker points of these engines---a little adapting bracket which held the tip of a dial indicator against the movable point---as the engine was cranked over, it would read the actual point opening of each cam lobe in turn.
this would tell you whether or not the cam was worn or inaccurate, and also whether the bushes for the distributor shaft were worn. i think, but i'm not certain, that the wear limit on the bushes was .002 side play of the shaft.
carla

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