Apologies for what is probably a simple rookie question... trying to file and gap points for the first time on a family heirloom 442 I've been tasked with caring for.

I pulled the cap, filed the points (back and forth 3-4 times), put everything back the way it was. Now I have no spark. Retraced and repeated (minus the filing) a few times, same result. All coil and plug wires still go where they should, all the wires in the distributor are still hooked up as before.

Thoughts on where I may have gone wrong?

 

Did you reset the gap or use a dwell meter to get 30*? Did you put the rotor back in, are all the wires connected?

 

Roter is in and everything is hooked up. Nobody around to turn the key so I can watch the meter unfortunately...

 

There are two logical possibilities in this situation.

• You may have dislodged the black wire from the points.
• You may have filed off enough that the points no longer close.

If the black wire is still connected, close the points by turning the adjustment screw a quarter turn clockwise using a 1/8" Allen wrench.

Put the rotor and cap back on and try to start the car.

If it starts, open the adjustment window on the cap, use your Allen wrench to turn the adjustment slowly clockwise until the engine stumbles, and then turn the adjustment counter-clockwise exactly 1/2 turn.

This is something you can do without helpers to get the dwell within about 1° of being correct.

 

Remove the distributor cap, & remove the rotor. Does the rotor "button" make contact w/ the center of the distributor cap ignition coil wire plug receptacle?

 

You can use an ohm meter to see if the points are closing.

That being said . . . . your heirloom is from the year I started driving. I have probably had 4 or 5 cars with points over the years and to be honest with you I have never filed a set of points. If they were worn to the point of causing a problem they would get replaced.

Was the car running ok before you did this ?

 

also clean the points with a white business card , close the points on it and pull it out until the card is clean

 

X2
It's hard for me to imagine why anyone would screw around "filing" a set of points.
When new ones are less than $20

 

X 3
I have owned many GM cars with points and never filed the points or knew anyone else that filed them. If the points are pitted to a point that filing the contact surfaces made a difference, it was time to replace them.

 

Several YouTube vids showing how to set point gap.
Filing a point set removes the thin layer of tungsten on the contacts. This greatly reduces the resistance to arc pitting and significantly shortens any life that was left of the components.
A file is meant to knock off the Stalactite only, to allow an accurate gap measurement.
Filing is only a last resort to get you rolling to the nearest parts catalog.

Purchase USA-made Corvette SBC (Small Block Chevy) point sets. The offshore crap will last 1.678 miles before failure.
Same goes for caps, rotors, plugs, etc. All one has to do is type in USA made xyz.....and boom... USA-made parts abound.
See how easy it is to not feed the offshore garbage machine.

The one thing I don't see in the vids is when you bump the ignition to get the distributor cam on the high spot of the crown, you want to be able to rock the distributor shaft back and forth to feel the absolute highest spot of the crown.
Then feel just a slight amount of resistance on the feeler gauge. Try it again after you tighten the point set down on the breaker plate, as it can move. It might take a few attempts.
It's a feel a seasoned wrench knows and the green ears need to learn.
Of course, use a dwell meter to get it exactly to 30°

https://www.taroignition.com/
https://ngksparkplugs.com/en/
https://sparkplugwires.com/
https://pertronixbrands.com/pages/ta...ark-plug-wires
https://catalog.zodiac.nl/en/05-engi...-and-kits-1241

 

I was going to post the same thing. That procedure was in the actual GM service manuals

 

Sage advice. Kudos.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone!

 

I can't understand why anyone would fool around with a feeler gauge to adjust points on a 57 thru 74 GM engine.
You simply slip them in and tighten them down. They will usually be close enough for the engine to start.
Then the points can be adjusted through the little window in the cap with an allen wrench with the engine running.
Using a dwell meter.

I used to set Ford and Mopar points the same way, by using a dwell meter and adjusting them while cranking.
About the only engines that I used a feeler gauge on were chainsaws and motorcycles.

 

I always used a feeler gauge to initially set them to get the engine to start and run, then set the dwell to 30 with the engine running. Then set the timing and adjust idle fuel mix.

 

A waste of time. Just put them in,
If the engine doesn't start, the points can still be adjusted with the dwell meter while cranking.

 

In situations like this, I have run the dwell meter up onto the windshield so that I can see the dial while cranking.

 

Probably. General point setting info for the more difficult distributors, particularly the units without the convenient adjust window. Fords...small engines, industrial engines etc...
Was thinking of the other 10,000 engines I tuned over the last century...lol.

 

All you need is a remote starter switch .
Performance Tool Heavy Duty Remote Starter Push-Button Switch 5-ft Wire Leads | eBay
And a point adjustment tool.
Snap-on Tools MD18A Carb/Hex/Flex Adjustment Tool MD 18A Snap | eBay

Press the starter button with the left hand while adjusting the points with the right.
You can also adjust Fords and Mopars as well as pre '56 GM 's with the rotor and cap removed while cranking, with a dwell meter.
Small engines or something you can't find a dwell adjustment setting for, will need to be done with a feeler gauge.

 

I like it charlie, simple easy logical most of all, common sense for sure!
Snap off remote start switch was one of the very first and very best tools I bought off the rolling impulse item showroom on wheels....the truck.

 

Have you tried getting one of those connected to the starter solenoid on a second gen Olds motor?
Actually, what I like to do is any time the starter comes out, run an additional wire to the "S" terminal and hide the other end under the fender. Use an insulated termination that prevents the chance of shorting it out and you have an easy place to connect that remote starter button when you need it. If you really want to get fancy, run that wire to a pushbutton switch mounted inconspicuously under the hood.

 

I was wondering how that got connected to an Olds without some involved effort.

 

More solid ideas Joe.
Work smarter, not harder.
You can definitely tell who is a seasoned veteran around here. We had zero internet, just common sense, books, our curiosity to fix anything, and certainly some tribal knowledge. AND we weren't afraid to jump in and see what we found - broke some **** and learned and got it fixed. No hands were held, no participation trophies awarded...lol

 

and "no opinion polls", "Youtube video's, etc before you tackled a project. "If it broke, it needed replacing anyway",.

 

You can also rig up a pigtail off the purple wire at the NSS on the column.

 

Another variation of this on nearly all my GM cars is to put a “Scotchlock” style, insulated female spade on to the “S” wire near the column in engine bay. I stick a fuse tap blade into it and connect the starter button to it. Chevy gets it on the other side. Very handy to access, makes things easy. For those that care, the more stealthy methods mentioned above are the way to go, but the Scotchlock doesn’t exactly call attention to itself.

​​​​​​….

 

“T” pin carefully backprobing the purple wire at the firewall bulkhead connector. Or a carefully spliced insulated quick disconnect on the purple wire in the wiring harness.

 

After tracing down an inordinate number of wiring problems on trailers put together with Scotchlocks, I think they should be outlawed.

 

Absolutely!!!! As much as I despise cheap crimp butt connectors, these are by far worse.

If aftermarket parts suppliers want to improve their profit margins, as far as I’m concerned they could stop including those connectors with the included hardware. They just get thrown away.

Several years ago I ripped out all the wiring under my trailer, if I remember correctly there were 27 of those damn things. Every wire was green with corrosion.

 

Little update... installed a pertronix setup and now it's running again.

 

For a little while, MAYBE ?????

 

I got a kick out of reading all the replies. It brought back memories of setting the points on my 1955 Chevrolet 265 CI V8 back in 1959. It always was a pain to get the high spot on the distributor cam, until I found this clever device. It consisted of a stainless steel ring that would slip over the cam when the rotor was removed. Then you installed your new points, and using the special gapping gauge that came with the set, you didn't have to worry about where the high spot of the cam was located. I don't remember much about it now (65 years later), but from what little I do recall, there were also Mopar, Ford, and Chrysler versions also. It was also a godsend when it came to setting the points on the Corvair, where you had to bend over the engine to do anything.
I recall purchasing a transistorized ignition kit from J.C. Whitney that utilized the points to trigger the transistor in the metal heat sink box. It even came with a special coil and a ballast resistor. That was 1964, a time of high-tech, cutting-edge technology. I think that I still have some part of that kit somewhere in the garage. They didn't call me the Junkman because I threw things away.