Originally posted by bigbassmann:
Thanks for all the good info. I have never checked the dwell in the past, mainly because I didn't know anything about it. I would always set the point gap at .019 and if the engine ran good, it was good enough for me. Figured there was no need in overcomplicating the situation.
When I still had points, I would set the gap, then check the dwell. I was of the opinion that what really counted in terms of the coil discharge was the dwell angle; the point gap was just a means of estimating what the dwell was based on the shape of the distributor shift and the distance between the the points. The larger the distance, the greater the angle traveled by the distributor shaft before the points close. While the point gap should be an accurate indication of the dwell angle, it isn't exactly the same thing. Therefore, I felt that it was more accurate to measure the actual dwell angle after setting the point gap to get it in the ballpark (within a few degrees).
Thanks for the explanation of why the 6 cylinder distributor doesn't have an exterior means of adjusting the points. I've never seen one of the V8 distributors, but what you say makes sense.
