Points Gapping for Idiots
 

I've been working on cars for years. Before this one, I've never had a car with points. How do I adjust them accurately though? I've got my feeler gauges, I've got my dwell meter- how do I use them?

My assumption is that I move the engine so that the points are as far open as they'll go. From there, loosen the set screw and open/close them to the appropriate width. Re-tighten screw. Set timing. Hook up dwell meter to ground and violet wire on distributor and repeat as necessary.

rotate the engine so that the cam that the point is resting on is at it very peak, point open to the max. Slip a feeler gauge between the point and measure the gap. Adjust the gap until you can just feel a slight drag on the feeler gauge.

Buy an optical trigger kit from Crane Cams or somewhere. I had one that worked great. I don't need it any longer so if you're interested let me know.

By "adjust" do you mean to simply loosen the points so that you can get the proper drag on the feeler gauge? Do they spring open or closed when I loosen the screw?

Loosening the screw allow you to move the gap closer or further apart. They do not spring open or close when you loosen the screw.

I always found it easiest to remove the dist. and clamp it in a bench vise where there is plenty of light, a comfortable working position, and the dist. can be freely rotated so that the points follower is on a high point of the dist cam..

IFF the following are done it is not even necessary to place the engine at TDC.

• note where the rotor & vacuum can point
• do not turn the engine over while dist is out
• be sure to replace w/ the rotor & vacuum can pointing to the same positions

The C3 wants 0.35mm(0.014") this corresponds to 38 &#177 3&deg of dwell. You will need to get a feel for what that feels like as you drag the gauge across the gap. Check dwell after it's reinstalled. Larger gap means less dwell smaller gap mean more dwell. Use a very small dab of dist. grease on the cam. I always left a slight tension on the set screw, so that they neither open nor close by themselves, use a regular flat screwdriver blade on the pry notch to vary the gap.

My '76 C3 is #0299 good to hear from another proud owner.

For most newbie, when they remove the dizzy they don't index the position of the dizzy with respect to the crank or cam. Then they don't know how to put it back in and get the engine to run again. Some dizzy (not porsche 911) has dizzy with a slot so you can only put it back in one way.

If you do take the dizzy off the engine, rotate the engine so that the rotor is in a position that you will remember when it come time to reinstall the dizzy.

i installed a pertronix ignitor (from pelican) about 50 bucks. take out the distributor set this up once and do not worry about points again.

gar

Do you get your car number just from the last digits of your VIN? If so, I'm ...033 (or 1033) for the '76 C3s.

I did a quick gap setting last night. Very easy. I don't know why I was gripped about it. I've pulled apart most major components in my other cars but never even played with points. I envisioned them springing apart and taking hours to re-adjust.

I might try the Pertronix. I installed an optical Crane one in my MG replacing the crappy breakerless system it had. I don't really like the optical though.

Thanks!