Need help with dwell meter on 6 volt positive ground system
I adjusted my points yesterday but I don't think the dwell meter was very useful. Besides having to hook up the power connections backwards, it think that the dwell readings are also going to be backwards. My shop manual says dwell should be between 58 and 62 degrees. That sounds funny and my meter tops out at 60 on the 6 cylinder dwell scale. I think I ended up with a reading of about 40 degrees but I'm sure that's misleading; it's probably really 20 or something like that.
Need help with dwell meter on 6 volt positive ground system
Update on the information I gave, the shop manual said 58-62 percent not [I/]degrees[/i], of dwell. Actually, what is said was 58-62 period. No units given in the tune up section. It was in the distributor section where they mention degrees.
When I look at my dwell meter I notice that the 8 cylinder max dwell is 45, the 6 cylinder max dwell is 60 and the 4 cylinder max dwell is 90. That explains why they would say 58-62 for all distributors.
Since 60% of 60 degrees is 36 degrees, I'm going to back the dwell off slightly from 40 degrees, but I'm already close.
Need help with dwell meter on 6 volt positive ground system
I was always short a dwell meter when doing tuneups except when pumping gas for $.65/hr and doing tunes there...
I was happy as a clam to set points by gap. Worked fine. Ditto the timing... Set crank at X-btdc. Back off dist til points close. Advance dist (wrong way) til points open. lock down. Static timing when you don't have .. and can't afford.. tools.
Thus, what is so special about dwell meters, and was I doing something wrong with static timing? If you take all the slack out of the geartrain, what is wrong with what I did?
Justa wonderin'
tom
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Need help with dwell meter on 6 volt positive ground system
Actually, Tom, that sounds like genius. I'd forgotten that technique for timing. I had used it on Volkswagens way back when. Is it safe to assume that you used a test lamp to determine when the points closed and opened?
My truck is 6 volt with a positive ground, and I'm unfamiliar with the 'backward' polarity, but I think the dwell meter will work ok even if the polarity seems wrong. It's running better than ever right now so I'll time it and then quit tuning.
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Need help with dwell meter on 6 volt positive ground system
