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Old 07-31-2021, 01:33 PM   #1
Mister Moose
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Default Point gap seems fussy.

The car has been starting pretty well up until this week, when it didn't. Crank crank crank, nothing. Shot some starting fluid in, nothing. So I got around today to looking in the distributor. The points looked ok, but I checked them with a .018 feeler and they felt a little loose, so I adjusted them. Boom, fired right up. Are the points that fussy? The book says .015 to .020, and they didn't look that far off...

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Old 07-31-2021, 02:38 PM   #2
jg61hawk
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Default Re: Point gap seems fussy.

I don't think they are that close to not let it start. I wonder if you just stumbled into another problem and didn't know you fixed it like a loose screw or dirt in the points....or a ghost was trapped under the distributor cap and you released it.....
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Old 07-31-2021, 02:57 PM   #3
The Master Cylinder
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Default Re: Point gap seems fussy.

Mr. Moose, what book said .015-.020? I always heard .018-.022. Regardless, it should have started.
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Old 07-31-2021, 03:11 PM   #4
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Default Re: Point gap seems fussy.

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Mr. Moose, what book said .015-.020? I always heard .018-.022. Regardless, it should have started.
I used THE book - Les Andrews. If I get motivated, I'll check my other books.

I wonder if some dust, spider web, mouse whisker or other stuff could get in there and short the points just enough? Then when you insert the feeler, you clean the points and it runs.

And I couldn't find vaseline in the garage, so I dabbed a touch of high temp grease on the cam lobe, hope that won't curse me in the future....
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Old 07-31-2021, 03:22 PM   #5
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Default Re: Point gap seems fussy.

Generally speaking, these old machines are not terribly fussy about .002 or so. They are forgiving. Could be a clot in the carburetor and no gas on the first try.
sometimes they really do fix themselves!
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Old 07-31-2021, 06:59 PM   #6
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Default Re: Point gap seems fussy.

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Quote:
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I used THE book - Les Andrews. If I get motivated, I'll check my other books.

I wonder if some dust, spider web, mouse whisker or other stuff could get in there and short the points just enough? Then when you insert the feeler, you clean the points and it runs.

And I couldn't find vaseline in the garage, so I dabbed a touch of high temp grease on the cam lobe, hope that won't curse me in the future....
Could of had just enough oxidation on them and yourfeeler gauge scraped it just enough clean. The ol fingernail emory board does wonders. Usually dirt cheap and easy enough to leave under the seat.
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Old 07-31-2021, 07:34 PM   #7
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Default Re: Point gap seems fussy.

I was gonna say, people forget (or never knew, like me) that contact points can work fine one day, and get a layer of skunge on them literally overnight and No Worky. Maybe not in the desert, but here in the land of 90° & 90% ..
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Old 07-31-2021, 07:51 PM   #8
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Default Re: Point gap seems fussy.

I SAID A GHOST!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't I get any credit for my mechanical skills???

I was gonna say, people forget (or never knew, like me) that contact points can work fine one day, and get a layer of skunge on them literally overnight and No Worky. Like I said.........These are old cars with ghosts and hoob gooblins of days gone by.... I assume the car is always laughing at me....until I threaten it with the crusher....that seems to fix most of it! I say listen you old scrap heap I love you but the next guy (my kid) won't. You better knock off your crap or off to the scrap heap.... generally runs well for a month or two.

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Old 08-01-2021, 09:30 AM   #9
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Default Re: Point gap seems fussy.

I suspect you had some oxidation on the point contacts, and by running the feeler gauge through them you cleaned them.
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Old 08-01-2021, 09:45 AM   #10
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Default Re: Point gap seems fussy.

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Originally Posted by Crankster View Post
I was gonna say, people forget (or never knew, like me) that contact points can work fine one day, and get a layer of skunge on them literally overnight and No Worky. Maybe not in the desert, but here in the land of 90° & 90% ..
Yes, it happened to me about 10 years ago. My 28 ran fine one day and wouldn't fire up the next day. I hand cranked it and it fired right up and ran fine. About 30 years ago I had to clean the points on my 1937 Lauson engine at least 20 times before the magneto finally kept working.
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Old 08-01-2021, 10:44 AM   #11
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Default Re: Point gap seems fussy.

One day, back in the '50's, my first Model A, I was driving along, car running fine when all of a sudden it lost power, was barely running. Pulled into a vacant lot and started checking things over. Found the points rubbing block had worn down so much it had ended up running on just one cylinder. One lobe of the cam must have been just a smidge higher than the other 3. Put a little chassis grease on the cam, reset the points gap and back to normal.
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Old 08-01-2021, 11:25 AM   #12
Dan Partain
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Default Re: Point gap seems fussy.

I've found that some of the stationary point blocks on the upper plate are very worn and the adjustable point is not tight when the locking screw is tightened. I always check the point block for this problem when I am working on a distributor. If it's not tight, the point adjustment will eventually move one way or the other.
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Old 08-01-2021, 02:34 PM   #13
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Default Re: Point gap seems fussy.

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Originally Posted by Dan Partain View Post
I've found that some of the stationary point blocks on the upper plate are very worn and the adjustable point is not tight when the locking screw is tightened. I always check the point block for this problem when I am working on a distributor. If it's not tight, the point adjustment will eventually move one way or the other.



yup - had that very problem a number of years ago...very frustrating to troubleshoot if you don't know to look for it.
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Old 08-02-2021, 08:57 AM   #14
Gold Digger
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Default Re: Point gap seems fussy.

I had a stationary point bock that the locking screw didn't lock down the adjusting points screw.
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Old 08-02-2021, 01:30 PM   #15
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Default Re: Point gap seems fussy.

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Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg View Post
Yes, it happened to me about 10 years ago. My 28 ran fine one day and wouldn't fire up the next day.



Same here, it's the first thing I check when a car won't start.
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Old 08-02-2021, 02:02 PM   #16
Greg Jones
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Default Re: Point gap seems fussy.

Point gap IS fussy. Gap should be 0.018 to 0.022". Most people can't discern that by eyeballing it. Point gap is all the more important if running a high compression head, IMHO. Wider gap advances the timing, smaller gap retards the timing. I shoot for a "fat" 0.020" gap and run a Brumfield 5.9:1 head.
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