ok i took of the distributor cap and i saw that the black wire from the condenser is not hooked to anything and a grey wire from the distributor is not either.... where do these hook up to?????

 

Both these wires connect to the screw or push-on connector on the points. The gray wire should trace back to the (-) terminal on the ignition coil.

Thought you said the car was running? With those unhooked, I don't see how?

Some Olds/GM distributors also have a short black wire from the vacuum advance plate to the distributor body.

Sounds like when yer Gramps put it up, he disabled it good.

 

ok well the wires are back on but when i hooked a dwell up to the coil it was at 40 degrees... which is way too much right... when i try to adjust it with the allen bolt on the points it only lowers the degrees so much.... can someone explain to me how to adjust the points so the dewell will read 30 degrees.. that it should be at? ...this car runs weird... it seems like its not sparking enough but i dont want to replace stuff that dosnt need replaced because of the $$ factor... if you start this car it idles fine but when floored, it will rev fine for about 2 seconds then bog down..... any ideas???... i know i have to get the points in tune and the timing right before i start buying stuff for the car

 

Well, actually, the car will run just fine with the condenser disconnected. That's for noise suppression on the radio.

 

It sounds to me that your points are not seated on the advance plate flat. There is usually a round nub that the points sit on to keep them from drifting. If not then you need to center the adjustment screw and loosen the mounting screw at the end where the points break enough so that you can move the base and set your gap at approx .019 with a feeler gauge (I've found a matchbook cover to work in a pinch).

Tighten your mounting screw, reinstall cap and reset dwell to 30 deg.

Please note, the condenser is a temporary storage device to prevent voltage from arcing across the points as they open, which keeps them from burning up. The arcing is what causes the interference with the radio.

 

See my response to your other post for more information...

- Eric