Yeah, carbs and points can be fun. I used to enjoy messing around with them.
Electric
- Thread starter Session 5
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Yeah, carbs and points can be fun. I used to enjoy messing around with them.
I was never one much for points considering that’s all there was when I was a kid. To do it right always seemed to be a little Voodoo. Did not own a dwell meter so I was old school eyes and feeler gauge. Electronic ignition was a godsend for me.
Yes indeed....an art form actually...when you vsn slter jet entry profile, idle feed restrictions and air bleeds to get a seamless A/F transition across the entire rpm range....
Much cooler than this job....
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Very simple system. I still have a dwell meter i bought when i was 14. You only set by dwell, never a feeler gauge. The gauge only gets the points open enough to start.
The most important part was using "good" points. Eichlen made a "severe duty" set with a 32 ounce breaker arm spring. We've spun them to 10,000 crankshaft rpm (5,000 distributor rpm) in a Sun Distributor Dyno with no variantion in dwell.
On the race car, we ran dual points with the second set of poi ts triggered by a switch in 4th gear which gave an 8° timing retard at high rpm....
We were running a 427 Ford with a 4 speed on a 9.90 dial in in the 1980's before any electronic "consistency aids" were available.
Back then, guys would put GM HEI in to eliminate points and then break down with a failed module....
I had a 74 model I upgraded to pointless ignition. Worked just fine till a fine winter day. Blizzard actually. Popped the hood on my car and couldn’t see the top of the engine under all the snow that had been forced in….. and the car was NOT facing the wind. Wouldn’t fire till I put the points back in. And that’s the way it stayed till I got rid of in in 77.
As for HEI. Personally have never had an issue. I did upgrade the HEI internals on my 77 Vette with aftermarket. Primarily the coil, but there was some guts that came with the kit. Modified the cap just enough it still looks stock.
The secret to HEI is an .080" plug gap, but to run that gap reliably, you must get rid of the 20k ohm carbon bushing under the coil. MSD still makes a zero-ohm bushing under #8412
We ran CR42TS8 AND TSX gapped at .080"
OP
Session 5
Ambassador of Strings & Wings
Now for me , Electric is ideal for a golf car, great for getting around the campground, or for you Rick, if you move to one of those southern gated communities perfect, but for me for a street vehicle gas all the way..
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I looking into getting one of these for the wife to ride around on the property (gardening) and for me to snow plow with.
I still have my timing light, dwell-tachometer, and even the little "bump" switch to align the breaker point rubbing block on the distributor cam.
I used to replace points at least every year. It was actually kind of fun when I was a teenager/young adult.
But, yeah, it is easier with the tools. If you have the right tools, it's pretty straightforward
If I had a gas powered cart, I’d probably try to put a blower and it or a NOS kit. More Power.
I tried one of those Mallory Uni-Lite conversions once. It worked pretty well, at first. After a few months it failed and I put the points back in.
Mallory Dual Point took us to a 9.90 1/4 mile time
It’s been awhile. Don’t think I’m running stock gap…. But I know I’m not running .080.
As for the rest. The kit came with cap, rotor, coil, weights, module and vacuum pot. What I did was take the stock ring that pops onto the OEM cap and the nubs on the HEI wires and modified it so it would fit around the bigger better faster coil. Doesn’t really do anything other than look stock to someone that doesn’t the work on these things.
I had seriously considered doing a full HEI conversion on my '71 Cutlass. I never did it, though. I'm still curious if it would have been worth it. I wasn't concerned about speed or horsepower as much as fuel economy.
Jethro Rocker
Ambassador of Live & Loud Action
Points were a major PITA.
Thanks electronic ignition.