So this weekend, I re-checked the dwell, and got some more reasonable numbers when using the negative side of the coil and a ground. I guess there is an art to setting the points gap because I was able to hit 37.4 and 42.3, but never seemed to hit 40 degrees. I'll keep working on that this weekend.
Checked the vacuum at the advance port and it barely read 1hg. Is that low enough to be considered little to no vacuum? I have not started to mess with any of the adjustment screws on the roach-B yet, and plan to get my dwell set, then adjust the timing and see what happens before I mess with the carb.
Now about messing with the carb...
I opened it up because I wanted to make sure I had the floats set correctly since it leaks (probably a warped air horn), and was curious about the jet size while I was in there. Found that is a #52, and my engine is a 235 from 1954. Did some poking around the internet and found that it is supposed to be a #58... Can anyone confirm a #58 correct for a roach-B on a 235? I have a #56 and was thinking about trying it out this weekend. Seems to run and idle ok with the 52, but it does run out of steam pretty quick when I try to run up the rpm's. My biggest concern is that if I make that big of a jump in the jet size that it may create a whole mess of other issues.
This may be a dumb question, but could too small of a jet (overly lean condition) contribute to hard starting? Every now and then it will start on it's own, but generally I need to squirt a little gas into the carb first. Pulls just over 20hg at the manifold when idling.
