ANY TIPS before installing new points???

Are there any tips I should be aware of before I install my new points? I have NO SPARK and with lots of help have traced it to the points (I hope) but they are cheap so I'll replace them and see.
But are there any tips before such as cleaning the area or greasing them or anything? I am a rookie and just want to do it right.

Thanks

Shawn

Maybe a very thin coat of grease around the
distributor lobes. Might as well change the cap and rotor too.

nick
'70 911E

Remove the old points and save them in a bag in your glovebox (or buy two new sets and save one). Emergency only.

If you purchased Bosch points, you should see a small blister pack in the package that contains grease--this is for the distributor lobes on which the points ride. This grease is a bit special because it is very viscous and does not spin off.

With points off, clean the lobed center piece of the dist. and apply just a smear of grease around the center piece. Put a drop of oil onto the felt inside the center piece. Now take the new points, clean the contact faces with alcohol or electric contact cleaner, and then place them roughly in place, locating the pin and putting the lead onto the spade in the distributor. With a magnetized screwdriver, gently put the screw through the hole in the points and into the distributor plate. Screw down slightly so that the points stay located.

Now, with one person turning the car over, set the dwell to spec using a screwdriver in the slots provided in the points. This requires a dwell meter as well to read the dwell angle, a VERY easy tool to use and required (in my mind) for this job. When the dwell is fairly close as the car is turned over, put the rotor back on, the cap back on the dist. and start the car, noting again your dwell angle. Reset as needed (they almost always need it), being careful to NOT overtighten the points screw into the dist. plate.

My understanding is that points should be set when new, and never readjusted, but rather only replaced. They are cheap enough and the screw threads in the dist. plate weak enough that every time you feel you need to adjust your points you should rather just get a new set.

Also, points wear such that your dwell angle will change. If your spec shows a range, set to the higher number so that, over time, wear will keep the contact gap/dwell angle roughly within the range spec.

Jw