cant set dwell on points

[hallgren87idi]

i got a '74 ford 302 in a f100, couldnt get it runnin for over 5 sec so i inspected the points and they were pitted so i took some light sand paper and made em shiny again, it will run now but i cannot set the damned dwell, i set it with a matchbook it runs good but dwell meter shows 12-15, i know the meter works cause i used it previously on my buddys truck. even if i set the gap of the points like 2x than what they should be the dwell stays 12-15, sometimes drops to 10. could it be the distributor? bought a new one from schmucks...but i think it may have went bad. any input would be nice thanks guys

 

[towcat]

one- make absolutely sure the breaker plate has a good ground wire connecting the plate to the dist body.
two- make sure the coil has a built in resistor or put in a mopar coil ballast.
three- if you are a V-8 you should be 25* to 29* of dwell.

 

[hallgren87idi]

yea the weird part is, i had it set once at 28, ran killer i helped my grandma move, hauled about 3/4 a cord of wood and drove 70 mph freeway, got 15 mpg. came back that night went for the night hunt ran great, got home and it backfired. started it up ran like crap, got it to my house somehow partially with help from the starter and manual trans lol. anyhow, the points got pitted so i cleaned em like my dad told me he used to do, and its a brand new distrib. no matter how i set the points i can only get 10-15 dwell, so maybe the distrib took a crap?i need to get to a wrecking yard monday and get a distrib to slap in there and see. thanks though ill check the plate in the morning

one- make absolutely sure the breaker plate has a good ground wire connecting the plate to the dist body.
two- make sure the coil has a built in resistor or put in a mopar coil ballast.
three- if you are a V-8 you should be 25* to 29* of dwell.

 

[Shadetreemechanic]

Distributers don't just "take a crap" check it for play as the bearings wear and it won't hold dwell. Also verify that the vaccum advance is working on it.
I would replace the points. They are cheap.
I don't know why, but sometimes I file points and they work great for thousands of miles, sometimes I can't get out of the shop with them.

 

[DeepRoots]

If it keeps being a problem, remember a Duraspark conversion is pretty simple and troublefree