[Jdub]

Ahh points. How I love them! My SC has none, but I've been down this road many times with my MG/TR/Mercedes. Here is the old wisdom on points that has been handed down to me...I would be interested in anyone's comments.

The grease in the bubble is applied very sparingly. While it is designed to stick to the post, the stuff can fly off if you put too much on. Old points out, wipe down the post with a clean paper towel and electrical contact cleaner, and apply a smear to the post all around, removing the excess.

Use a dwell meter to set your points. Feeler gauges are ok, but setting by way of dwell is more accurate. Hook the meter up (coil post and engine ground usually), have someone turn the engine over (no it won't start; the cap is off and you've removed the fuel pump fuse...) and set the dwell via the adjusting slots of the points. Then start the car and check your work at idle. Readjust as needed now, before the points begin to wear,

Points wear "in". Set them to the low end of a setting (say 32 degrees where range is 32 to 36 as an example) so that, as they wear, they wear within the range. Never clean points with a file; only with a clean non-fibrous stiff paper, such as a company card. Never readjust points: throw them away and put in a new set instead. The idea is you set the spec to the high end and get many happy miles our of your points as they wear within range.

That's what I've been taught. Check your timing after setting the dwell if you are comfortable doing this.

Jw

EDIT: Got my dwell degree range advice straightened out: as points wear, they wear towards a larger dwell angle, which is the same as a smaller gap between the points.



[This message has been edited by Jdub (edited 10-26-2001).]