Setting the points crab dizzy

[Licensed to kill]

So I received my points today and put them in but had something of an issue setting them. The pass side set @ .014 OK (and had adjustment to go more) but when I went to set the drivers side set, the MOST gap that I could get was .012. Thoughts??. BTW,I had checked over several lobes and got no more than .012 on each.

[deuce_roadster]

Where did your new points come from? I suspect the rubbing block on the side you can't adjust is too short.

[Don]

Sometimes you have to give the stationary side of points a little tweaking to give you,more adjustment...

[Licensed to kill]

Originally Posted by deuce_roadster

Where did your new points come from? I suspect the rubbing block on the side you can't adjust is too short.

I bought them through NAPA, (echlin I think)

[Licensed to kill]

Originally Posted by Don

Sometimes you have to give the stationary side of points a little tweaking to give you,more adjustment...

Ah, great idea, never thought of that. Thanks

[Charlie ny]

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Ltk,
Are the contact TIPS actually closing nice and square ? If not the tab that holds the actual tip on the fixed set must be carefully bent so there is full contact between it and the tip on the movable arm. This happens all the time and in some cases bending the arm even slightly to achieve full tip contact will provide the adjustment range you'll need. It is possible too that you have purchased poor
quality points, this happens all the time too. If you did not purchase NAPA CS-47 points then quality is a question mark. Be advised that even though NAPA's are the best they too may require alignment.
.014 might be a bit close due to rubbing block wear.
Charlie ny

[fordscript]

sometimes you can fix it by swapping over the moveable parts of the points. Try that before bending anything.

[Hoop]

Been a couple mentions of water and corrosion. Good idea to check that the advance mechanism is not stuck and that it operates freely.

[35fordtn]

Echlin and standard are the same these days. Likely you bought one of the two as for the last 5 months every single set of either requires slight bending of the LH stationary point. The bending form they use at the Mexico factory must be worn. If you compare the left to the right you’ll notice what I mean. This issue makes it where you are unable to get enough of a gap and you’ll have too much dwell.

[Charlie ny]

Thanks Mike...........the seemingly obscure details are the difference between success

and not so good.
Charlie ny

[Licensed to kill]

Yup, climbed under this morning and looked and could see that the points weren't flush with one another and that the stationary tab was slightly leaned inward compared to the right one. Little tweet and the points contact flush and i have all the range I need. Set them at .015 as a starting point. Thanks for all the input. Much appreciated.

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

I found this pic in the shop in one of my programs this morning, if you plan on doing a couple more buy the alignment tool off ebay....

[koates]

You say you climbed under and looked at the points ??? The sensible way to work on any flathead front mounted distributer is to remove it from the engine and do any work on the bench where you can really see what is going on inside there. Its easy to remove and refit and is the Ford recommended way to do it. Regards, Kevin.

[Licensed to kill]

Originally Posted by koates

You say you climbed under and looked at the points ??? The sensible way to work on any flathead front mounted distributer is to remove it from the engine and do any work on the bench where you can really see what is going on inside there. Its easy to remove and refit and is the Ford recommended way to do it. Regards, Kevin.

Yes. While i didn't pull the distributor, I did pull the point plate out and cleaned it up and installed the points on the bench before putting it back in. Of course this required setting the points on the motor.

[Mart]

My advice would be to do yourself a favour and take the distributor off next time. There was never any intention for people to do the points on the vehicle. The mounting holes are not slotted, you can only refit it in the same position as where it was before.

Glad you have managed to do the job, though, even if you did make it a lot more difficult that it needed to be.

Mart.

[Hoop]

"BTW, I USED to think that Henry Ford was a pretty smart guy until I saw where he chose to locate the distributor on theses early flatheads. What a putz!." - Licensed to kill

[Licensed to kill]

Originally Posted by Mart

My advice would be to do yourself a favour and take the distributor off next time. There was never any intention for people to do the points on the vehicle. The mounting holes are not slotted, you can only refit it in the same position as where it was before.

Glad you have managed to do the job, though, even if you did make it a lot more difficult that it needed to be.

Mart.

While I may have not done it in the easiest fashion available, IMO, Henry Ford made it more difficult that it needed to be by locating the dizzy where he did. Credit where credit is due though, he obviously recognized his blunder and rectified it on later models. The reason I didn't pull the whole dizzy out is that I am not familiar enough with them and still don't know how the timing is set (other than the little bit of adjustment available on the side. With the cap designed w]the way it is and all cylinders marked on it, I assume that the dizzy only goes in one way so no matter where the crank is positioned, the dizzy is always set correctly. However, that is just an assumption and i learned a LONG time ago that when I do things based on assumptions, it rarely turns out well.

[JSeery]

Originally Posted by Licensed to kill

The reason I didn't pull the whole dizzy out is that I am not familiar enough with them and still don't know how the timing is set (other than the little bit of adjustment available on the side.

Thought we cover this already, LOL! The timing is fixed (except for minor adjustments). The timing is controlled by the points gap. That's why it is important to get them set correctly, which is difficult to do on the car. The later model distributor would not be an improvement in my opinion (some people like them) unless you do something like the Chevy upgrade.

The distributor has a tang on the back of it that is offset to one side. The camshaft has a slot in it that is also offset. So the distributor is directly driven by the cam in a fixed orientation, so nothing to set. Changes in the timing are made by modifying the distributor itself off the engine.

[Licensed to kill]

Originally Posted by JSeery

Thought we cover this already, LOL! The timing is fixed (except for minor adjustments). The timing is controlled by the points gap. That's why it is important to get them set correctly, which is difficult to do on the car. The later model distributor would not be an improvement in my opinion (some people like them) unless you do something like the Chevy upgrade.

Not really. I went back and read all posts on this thread and my previous thread on changing the points and the closest post to "covering this already" was yours on the other thread "Might be a lot smarter than you think! It is a somewhat fixed distributor (mounted on the engine). It is a good example of a simple (and smart) design. The distributor can be set up on the bench and then just bolted on.". After reading the following, this earlier post makes sense. However, this earlier post by itself doesn't really explain much (to me anyway). I like (need) details to ensure that I understand. I should have asked for more clarity before but, with the detailed advice on removing the breaker plate, removing the whole dizzy seemed unnecessary.

The distributor has a slot on the back of it that is offset to one side. The camshaft has a slot in it that is also offset. So the distributor is directly driven by the cam in a fixed orientation, so nothing to set. Changes in the timing are made by modifying the distributor itself off the engine.

Thank you for that detailed description. That is what I need to know and, now that I understand and KNOW (I suspected this before), this knowledge will be useful in the future. Very much appreciated.

[JSeery]

Yep, fairly easy to get off, just two bolts. Only trick to reinstalling is to make sure the tang on the distributor is in the correct position in relation to the cam (the off sets line up). When bolting it back down, go slow and don't force anything, if it is in the correct position it will bolt up easily.