OK. I replaced my points and condenser today. Ran the engine until warm. Dwell meter, one lead on negative side of coil, the other to ground. I used the negative post on the battery for ground. It read 10 and my manual said I should be at 30. I lifted the metal door on the cap and started adjusting. I turned both ways, counterclockwise the dwell went down, wrong way. Clockwise it started rising until it got to 15 and if I went any further it started going down again. I did pre-adjust the points with a feeler guage (.019) first to specs and it was on the high point of the cam. It's a good set of points. Napa brand was recommended. This is for my 1970 Ninety Eight 455. I'm ready for the bashing from you guys of what I'm doing wrong. Thanks, Tom.

 

My first thought is that your dwell meter is bad or it was on the wrong scale.

 

Yes. Keep in mind that the dwell scale is different for 4, 6, and 8 cylinder engines. Some meters have a switch and some have dual scales.

If it's any consolation, setting dwell is definitely becoming a lost art.

 

I remember when you could buy dwell meters anywhere. Now trying to find a good one takes a bit of shopping. Mine's an old Craftsman from an ebay auction.

Don

 

It's a brand new meter from Sears. It should be fairly accurate I would think. Sears is the only place I could find one. When it went to 15 it sounded better and the rpm's went up. Any other reasons? I really want to tune and drive this car with the factory setup, so I can see how it truly runs before I try the Pertronix and other things. That way I will have a better understanding of the changes in the way it reacts to "upgrades". Maybe I'll try E Bay for an old meter? Tom. Oh, by the way the brand is Actron. Good? No good?

 

I have bought new electronics that were bad and chances are your new meter was built in China or Mexico...which means nothing except that now and then I would like to see a USA label on something. Maybe you could borrow a meter to verify the condition of yours....also check the points and condenser to be sure everything is good with the screws and mounting and that no electrical connections are loose there or at the coil. You can set em with a feeler gauge as you did before and be happy with that....you will be very close to the proper gap.

 

For new points, the correct gap should be .016" and a dwell meter is not needed. If your meter is hooked up correctly and does not read 28-32° on the 8 cylinder scale, it's defective.

Due to metal transfer between contacts, used points cannot be set accurately with a feeler gauge and, a dwell meter must be used.

Either way, the cam/rubbing block must be lubricated with dielectric grease.

For what it's worth: Before there were dwell meters, there were point files.

Norm