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I put in a some new points yesterday. I drove to work right after and broke down on the freeway. I popped the hood and dist. Cap. Bumped the cam to the high spot. No gap. Frantically reset the gap road side and got to work. I didn't have confidence in the gap so I checked it at work. The plate moves around like it is free floating and gets cockeyed. I sort of just eyeballed it and it started. I think it's missing something or I lost something when I changed the points. I have no idea how it is still firing up and running after I just sort of eyeballed a gap. That strange spring tower keep trying to come out also. Any thoughts? The base plate is moving is the issue.
Baseplate moving is how it's designed, it doesn't just rotate it swing in a arc, and changes dwell on purpose for driving conditions. If some part of the baseplate is worn/damaged that's another thing. Most modern points are crap, did you put a little cam lube on cam. If not it will wear the wear block fast. You can set point gap with a match book cover and get it close enough to run. Old vehicles have a seat sensor that can tell how much is in your wallet, fat wallet is bad, flat wallet and will run for a long time.
Be sure the vacuum advance arm is still connected to the plate. Also there are 3 small plastic bushings under the plate that keep the plate from rocking. A good chance the bushings are the problem. I do not know where they can be found. Think about getting a rebuilt distributor from NAPA then change it to a Petronics electronic conversion or just buy a new one from Summit or JEG’S.
I found a little red thing about the size of a red hot candy sitting down along the plate. It's the rocking that seems to be the problem. I understand the plate moves but the action is off somehow. I'm going to see if I can fit that tic tac under the plate. There is a indent next to that wierd spring thing.