I can't for the life of me rember how to set dwell properly on cars. I have been setting points since I was a teenager. I get this thing on a crane optical back when I first bought the car in 2000 and it went belly up last week.

I put in new points, cap, rotor ( non rev limited), condenser, sparkys, wires oh yea a new coil in the car before I began
( back to simple old skool). yea right....

Firing order on wires set to 1-4-3-2 CW.

I set the points to .016 and I can get the car started. I put a digital meter on the
+ and - on the coil and got the car to start with some dizzy turning
( damn it is sensitive).

Well... the dwell on the meter is showing 88.8 and yes it is set on dwell. I go back make sure the point shoe is straddling the lobe on the dizzy shaft and check the gap again. Still at 016. OK I'm good... Then I proceed to start the car up again and get my timing light in place to set the timing. I set the timing light dial to 27 degrees and point it at the timing whole and look for my marks. I have the old lady rev it up to 3500 and hold it steady (great gal she is).

I look for the white mark as I'm adjusting the dizzy and pull it into view and place it in the V notch. I have her take her foot off the pedal and I take over. Well...the damn car will not rev past 4k when it is floored!

The throttle body butterfly is wide open and the car is laboring.

Fuel pressure is at 29lbs and steady

(Adjusted valves back a year ago and have only put 40 miles on the car)

What gives...am I missing something simple here?

Please help fellas I'm pulling my hair out. Must be halfziemers setting in.

What about the vacuum advance hose. Did you disconnect and block it when adjusting? Did you remember to reconnect it?

Set it to TDC on the number one cyl. so the lobe on the distrubutor shaft is at its maximum open possition. .016 in / .4 mm gap on the points. that should get it running. the dwell angle is 47 degrees + or - 3 degrees. no idea if this makes a difference but i grounded my dwell meter to the fan housing not on the coil itself. Steve, seems your dwell is off.

Yup did that one. Darn near forgot though.

I did those steps Tod and I didn't use a chopstick

Is there something else here I'm not doing? The damn car couldn't break the speed limit in a hospital zone.

you mentioined your dwell is at 88.8 seems abit off. try getting it closer to 47 and see if that helps. will effect your timing mark if its off.

Tod that is the goofy part. The meter shows 27 degrees during running. So, I reset the points to .012 to see if the dwell gets changed as it should...

Am I correct in how to effect dwell?

Did you replace the spark plug wires? Possibly connect them wrong?

Yep new wires and I have them set on the dizzy at 1-4-3-2 CW
I just pressed down on them right now to make sure they are seated.

Nothing like live tuning and typing

Yes, you can set the timing correctly when the dwell is way off - that just leaves you with one problem instead of two, though. You must first set the dwell correctly. The dwell controls the length of time that the coil charges and discharges. Changing the dwell will change your timing, so check/reset it after you fix the dwell.

I'm surprised that the dwell could be that far off with the correct points gap. Does your reading need to be corrected according to the number of cylinders?

You change the dwell by readjusting the points. The feeler gauge only gets it close. So you'll have to change your point gap slightly one way or the other to get your dwell set to 47 degrees. I think.. you'll have to widen it. Hope that helps. My dwell meter I have to doulbe the value on it. Good point Too.

The smaller the gap the longer the dwell (time the points stay closed along the arc). If you open or close your gap you change when the points go off and thus change your timing, IIRC. Any help?

Dr. Evil,

Sounds about right to me!

I have been chasing the exact same problem with Babydoll. Bought a dwell meter specifically to fix this problem. Symptoms were the same, no power, won't rev, dwell was way out (in the 80 range). Got the dwell set correctly and ballparked the timing (can't see the timing mark on the fan).

IMO you're gonna be really lucky if you can hit it dead on 47. It's a matter of taking off the distributor cap, loosening the points, adjusting them ever so slightly, tightening, buttoning up the dizzy, starting the car, and checking the dwell setting with the engine running. Rinse and repeat.

I hear that Babydoll once again has the same problem... I suspect that either the dwell is out again or an injector is not firing, and the car is 2 hours away from my house so it's a major deal for me to fix it.

Sears has a nice digital dwell meter that also serves as a multimeter.

Sorry,
I went in the house to get a samich

Well. I have got the points re-tweeked. OK now I'm getting 46.5 is that close. I'm going to readjust the timing ( car wont start now ). I knew this was going to happen.
The adjustment on these cars is so touchy! Just like brylcream - a little dab will do ya.
I have to run and get something for the Mrs so she does'nt pop her cork.
Then I can get back and try and get this thing running right.

Thanks for the help guys. I'm still listening to ideas. Like the part of the car not wanting to get above 4k. Maybe this is in direct relation to the dwell and the timing out. I sure hope so.

I'm particularily sorry you are in the same boat.

I think need to slow down and re tackle this with some better meters and maybe a new digital timing gun from Sears. Gives me a reason to go buy more tools

Is the dwell meter set to v8? Mine has 2 scales one for 6 and one for 8. I assumed since it was reading silly high and the car was running great that the scale needs to be divided by two to get the right answer for a 4 cyl. I confess that this doesn't make sense to me though. Dwell is just a measure of on time to off time - shouldn't matter how many cylinders are there.

Steve,
I looked at the meter and it says it is set on 4. I'm wondering here is my meter going south battery wise. I haven't changed the battery in this thing in two years and I'm surprised that it still working.

I do recall something from a long time ago. Not sure why it popped in my head, that dwell should not change at all with any timing change, while dwell effects timing, timing should not effect dwell at all. Is that correct or is my memory failing me?

If dwell is changing with rpm, it may be a worn distributer bearing.

SEVENTEEN REPLIES AND NOT ONE CORRECT ANSWER! WTF is wrong with you guys? DID YOU NOT READ THE QUESTION?

The CORRECT way to hook up the dwell meter is the positive lead to the point side of the coil (terminal "1" or (-)), and the ground lead to a good engine ground.

This kinda crap goes into the archives, and some newbie spends a year of his life trying to get his car started, trying every wrong trail until he gets to my post, if he lives that long.

When you get the dwell set, shut it off check to see that the rotor is pretty much centered on the line for cylinder #1 when the engine is at TDC #1. Fix that if it's wrong, then start the car, warm it up, and set the timing at the RED, BLACK, or unpainted full advance mark on the fan, 2800 RPM.. BOTH HOSES OFF. The mark is one fan blade BEFORE the first wide fan support. It MAY not be marked on both sides of the fan, and you mAY have to lay over the trunk lid and get your head right down over the access hole to see the mark. Report back.

The rest of you hang your heads in shame.

If you had any questions about how I got to be Cap'n Krusty, read your 17 answers to the original question.

The Cap'n, goin' easy on you

OUCHIE

Thank you skipper for the detailed reply. I think I can do it correctly now.
I'll get this squared away this evening and have a report on your desk by morning.

Oh krusty one,
I may be out of line in asking this, but how many of the replies were actually incorrect?
People seem to have gotten away from the initial question a bit, but that doesn't mean there is anything wrong with them. Read any post on here. People get away from the initial question (although much of the discussion here remained closely related)
As for the actual answer, people get around to it sooner or later (yes, sometimes it takes time to get one of the more experienced opinions).
But then again, if you weren't crusty, then you wouldn't be krusty.

Ohhh, Suuuuuuure. You're gonna put it on my desk! Have you seen my desk? I haven't seen it in months, maybe years, mostly 'cause everybody puts everything on it. Or maybe where it might be, considering you can't see it ............. Think of it as being under the tallest part of the pile ....................

Or maybe you know all this, and hope your report will get lost ..... Yeah, that's it....

The Cap'n, bidding you good luck, and a good day

This usually is a nice fun place. Unfortunately there is always some ass that destroys it all!

Right on Crusty One........

Mark... To know the Crusty one is to love the Crusty one. We are a better team for his existence here.

Be nice.. or the Crusty One might not be there when you need him....

God I love this place....

Clayton
Twystd1
Aarons Mother
Narpist
ATFA Founder

It'll be on the desk skipper I promise. I'll send up a flare on its location

OK I finally got the sucker running right on points. WOOHOO

Would have posted earlier, however the Mrs gave me the evil eye and she wanted her landscaping completed . So I had to wait until last night to get back to the car.

The problem was a operator head space error:
Had dwell meter hooked up wrong. Dwell was off by a country mile. Once I got the dwell happy, the car will rev happily to the red line and beyond. Before it was like it was constipated.

Did ya see this Skipper?

Yup! Saw it. As always, I'm here to help, and I'm glad you got it handled. The Cap'n

BTW, the flare didn't even make a dent in the pile ............

Thank you to all who came up with ideas to get my mind churning and yes a big Thank You to the Skipper.

As always, willing to steer us wayward children back onto getting our cars running righteously YESS FRIEEENDS I"M HEEEEALED !

Praise the Skipper and pass the collection plate in his general direction.

I know this is an old post, But I back Cap'n Krusty here. I can not begin to express the hours of youth lost and frustration that reaches Felony proportions when you click and click and read and click and click and read, then YES this is EXACTLY my problem! So you read through the myriad of those 17 plus replies only to hit the last page blue-balled, and no happy ending. I don't keep guns in the house for reasons like these. So you stand up push away from the modern Idiot Box and figure you'll go eat breakfast now, but when you step outside the sun has long gone, and the town is asleep and you just lost a day off looking at little cartoons and well lets just say if there was "Tantric web-surfing" you just did it, and well was it good for you? So next time you come with issues and looking for answers and get them, share it! Or like I do sometimes, If I find a spot on discussion that leaves me hanging, I'll note the URL and when I work it out will go back and post what fixed mine if the site allows. There is always someone that has the answer, when you get it be sure to recognize them for it so that others may drive.

RIP cap,n , that was classic, right answer with attitude.

yea great answers from him always entertaining,some people don't know to deal with old tech anymore so it becomes SO hard .
But there is an answer in modern tech? its called pertronix,accuspark, hot spark and others ,really why anybody pisses around with points baffles me....truly.
I hear issues with the early systems but really no real foundation other than random comments,the newer units what ever brand sort that if it really happens? ,we are moving on so why not update a 40yr + old system?
Thing that makes me laugh is this new tech is so old its a joke,remember an older member on pelican saying he keeps a set of points in the glove box just in case,try changing back to points when its dark and raining in a 914,crazy really.
To me its the best 100+ dollars spent but don't expect magic if you have bad leads,cap,rotor and worn out plugs..it won't fix that.
Wow got that off my chest ready for a

Fully setup distributor in spares, takes ten minutes.

Honestly, I have never been left stranded by a set of points, at least never been tow truck stranded.

They can be set, in the dark, with a matchbook for a feeler gauge and it will get you home.

Unless the plastic tab that rides the shaft breaks...

Yep, happened to me with my 912E on a lonely mountain road without cell phone service about 18 months ago. Bosch OEM points made in Brazil. Pertronix or points...always carry a spare.

Just read through this thread.

A few observations from a New member.

1. The marks on the fan wheel (impeller) are not on both sides of the fan. However, from the various pictures I have seen, can near always be found on the REAR of the fan (the side of the fan facing the rear of the car) or the hardest place to see. Even though there are notches on BOTH sides of the fan housing just to make certain to confuse us......????

2. The theory with Dwell.
Getting to the proper dwell angle is a two-stage process. 1) set the angle first with a feeler gauge - this is a coarse scale. 2) Next, fine-tune the same adjustment using a dwell meter as a vernier scale

The above points (not a pun) were not obvious reading any of the literature on this site and others - thought it might assist to add these observations.

Last, learned a great deal from this thread.

Thanks!

And I among many miss the Cap’n.

CLASSIC