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Well, by the time I get this truck running right, it'll be worn-out...

Having recently modified my carb base on a Rochester BV on the '72 250 six in my C-10 to get "ported vacuum", I've been getting better performance out of the beast, but it would still "break-up" and miss upon heavy throttle.

A new set of plugs made no difference, and finally last Saturday, it started mis-firing on #1 cylinder; seemingly, there was no spark from the #1 tower on the distributor cap- tried new wires, new cap & rotor, nothing would get spark out of that #1 tower! :confused:

I left it alone for a couple of days, and then figured it wouldn't hurt to look at the points; I dressed them with a file, then went to check the gap, and lo & behold, the points were barely opening at all!
Less than .005" gap ! And yet the darned thing still ran...
So, not having a dwell meter, I figured that if .016" to.019" is good enough for a stovebolt, it's close enough for a 250!

Now, with properly gapped points, new plugs, cap, wires, and "corrected vacuum supply", it actually runs pretty "snappy"!
(It'll probably throw a rod or swallow a valve now! :p )

Once again, I have "learned" that the solution is usually something simple; maybe some day this lesson will actually "stick" in my head!

Cheers!

Your gap is right! If you pick up a dwell meter, set it at 32 degrees. Sure do wish Chevy would have put an access plate in the cap like they did for the v-8.

I got tired of the upkeep required on the points system on my '49 2 ton with a '70 250 in it. I installed a HEI distrubutor & have had no problems at all. I do carry a spare module & coil in the truck at all times.

Now there is a man who knows how to go prepared for an HEI breakdown.
M.T.,,,It will probably never happen since you have spares with you,just don`t take them out of the truck!

Mothertrucker,

My best friend keeps bugging me to changeover to electronic ignition; he'll even give me the distributor- I just keep resisting the idea...

Funny thing, of all the vehicles I've had over the years, the only vehicles that seem to go hard on breaker points are Chevy sixes and air-cooled VW's; I don't think I've ever replaced points in any of my flat-head 6 MoPars: just file 'em and gap 'em, usually once and I never have to touch 'em again :confused: .

I guess like most things, "when they work they're great, but when they don't they're the worst thing ever invented!"

I had a 74 250 with points that I put a module in, similar to a Pertronix. Never regretted it. 80 250 with HEI which ran great. However, I went scrounging for a HEI to put in a 64 230 last week. Ended up buying a point distributor for $20, the junkyard price of an HEI is now up to $60, and I would have had to buy new wires. They are getting scarce, the 900 lb gorilla junkyard has a bid to the smaller yards for $60, and marks them up from there.

My point is that if someone is willing to give you one to run, by all means take it.

I used to buy 6 cylinder HEI's on Ebay for $25-35. Like the man says, the prices are up there now.I have never had a problem with a GM HEI in any of my regular drivers.Last year, coming back from a road trip in my 37, the engine started to misfire. The engine has one of my own converted HEI's firing the 261. A quick look showed no problems, so we continued home for 100 miles with an intermitent misfire. A week later I went to start the truck and nothing but cranking, no spark. I pulled the cap, the pick up coil was shredded,looked like a rats nest.The upper bronze bearing failed , and the rotating pole piece ground the pick coil to shreds.Can't believe the truck made it home.The points distributer is back in now, runs just as well. Bought a pile of Delco NOS 1944375 points on ebay for 12 bucks, got enought to last for a lifetime.