OK i'll give it a whack. Take off the dist. cap and rotor. Disconnect the wire to one points set. Hook up a dwell meter and remote starter or grab a helper to crank the engine. Loosen and resnug the screw on the points to be adjusted. While cranking the engine adjust the points to 30* on the dwell meter. Tighten the points screw. Disconnect that set of points and reconnect the other set. Repeat the process for second set. Reconnect both sets of points. Don't be surprised when the combined running dwell is up around 40*-50*.

 

I am sorry. I have been here (FTE) for a long time, this is not my first screen name. I'm not really mad, just a little irritated. I like old school- period. In all my trucks, quads (5) and streetbike, I have nothing fuel injected. That should tell ya somethin right there. I did not care at all for someone to call my dist. an archaic POS. That is what started my attitude on this thread. Old, yeah. Still works, yeah. Parts readily available, yeah. Trusted performance company, yeah. I can thump your head on my back glass in any gear and at any time, so don't slam on my truck. That is just starting s**t. I would expect that from a newb. Again I am sorry and I will lighten up.

I do have a dwell meter, but don't quite have a good grip on what I'm doing with it. I think I have 4 timing lights that I acquired along the way. I guess it's partially my fault for not being clear on the original question. I do not have a book on my 352 so I don't know any specs at all. It has been at least two years since I put points in this truck, and only God knows how many projects have been done in between. So, with the issue of dwell aside, are both.... Ah nevermind. I'll look a little more. I wasn't trying to be a d**k. So sorry again.

 

Cobraguy, you just answered the original question perfectly while I was typing my last response. Awesome. Is that 40-50 dwell acceptable?

As an afterthought, with this dist, and an MSD Blaster 2 coil, should I open up my plug gap a little bit? If so, what do you suggest? If it makes any difference, It also has a mild cam, headers, and an edelbrock carb and intake.

 

I would still highly recommend you invest in an electronic ignition. I don't know if DSII is available for your FE or not. I converted my ranchero to that and got better performance and gas mileage. The whole setup cost $40 at a local wrecking yard.

 

Go with .045-.050 on the plugs. 40*-50* dwell on a dual point is normal. Hook the red lead on the dwell meter to the dist side of the coil and the black lead to ground. Key must be on and engine cranking or running when taking dwell readings. Have fun and go do a smokey burnout when your finished, it'll make you feel better and get rid of any bad taste.

 

Thanks Cobraguy. I called my dad who was a ford mechanic in the late 60's. He confirmed what you said and said that 17*-19* would be a good starting point for setting the points with feeler gauges. It may be a couple days before I get to it but I'll post back.

 

Sorry, somehow the link didn't copy over correctly
url=http://www.centuryperformance.com/setting-breaker-points-spg-90.html

 

The last time i set up a dual point dizzy it was in a 67 camaro with a 396 rat....Leaned over to give the dizzy just a little more inital advance on the plate and the points floated... Causing an immediate backfire and loss of frontal lobotomy hair........and that was 1979.......And i am still BALD....

I stopped playing with points in anything i owned since or will own on the future, hence the advice to get rid of the labor intensive, quick to wear out and some time difficult to set up parts.

Actual proper procedure is to remove the dizzy and take it to a shop to set up on a machine for curve and advance as to when it comes in and when its done.....They can set the dwell and all other parameters.... But try to find an auto electric shop that will do that today....

DSII was available for the FE and can be scrounged in a yard or bought new at NAPA or other parts stores. Dizzy rebuilt is around 60 bucks and a module is about 15. the harness can be scrounged from any FOMOCO product from the seventies or eighties.

On the gap.. Points wont like the wide gap they tend to carbonize... Watch the .040 or bigger on the plugs for deterioration of the tips and shorten the gap.. The points dwell and capacity of spark (Time) do not like the big gaps even with the MSD or hotter coil. The Dura spark likes the big gap due to the time it applies the spark at a lot more joules, hence it can handle the big .045 or .050 gaps.

Garbz

 

I took the plug gap up from 35 to 40. I also redid the routing of the fuel line and changed to a different style fuel filter. In my running around town, It has not acted up yet. Plugs all looked fine, so I don't think that was the cause of the original stutter. I could blow freely through the old fuel line from the pump up to the carb, so I don't think that was it either. My job is 30 miles one way, so next time I go to work I'll know for sure. It runs really good now, so if it doesn't act up, I'll leave it. I just did the duraspark swap on a 300 6 in my bronco (it had the TFI dist.), so I am fairly familiar with that system. On the bronco, it was a "plug n play", but it took me a week to find the broken wires and plugs and get it on the road again. By the time I was done, that junkyard set up cost me A LOT more. I bought from the junkyard- a harness, coil, pick-up coil, icm box. I ended up replacing all of them by the time I was done, with the exception of the harness. After I get the motor replaced in her 86 bronco, I may very well put a DSII in the 65, but for now, the points stay. I found a new 408w stroker short block, delivered to my door for $2400. I have bigger fish to fry for right now.

 

Here is a bit of advice I try to live by when junkyarding. Never buy engine electrical parts from a staight car in a yard. Look for the wrecked cars they were probably running at time of death.

 

That makes sense- never thought of it that way.

 

crobaguy nailed it for you I did run the same set up on my 65 390.when I couldn't get my buddy to reset the points for me I would fall back on a old match book cover trick it would work for me in a pinch and I set my plugs at 45 gap.and don't brush your arm on a plug wire that you don't know is bad that dual point will light you up.

 

Were you running a hotter coil? That is the reason I changed my gap. The dual point ignition doesn't necessarily give you a hotter spark, but it makes sure that you have spark. The way I understood it, it will fire the set of points with the least amount of resistance.

 

cfrives3
I ran a mallory in my race car and in my old truck,
I really liked the mallory daul points a few years ago, I raced a built 351w pinto, and I drove my old 77 Pro-Street, built 351w every day to work, 40 miles one way. And I had lots of road side repair time in and I got real good at
cleaning and filing, and resetting the points, and I did carry a small case with
points, con, small wrench, small screwdriver, small pieces of real fine sandpaper, and metal finger nail file. And I really liked tuning on it, and it would go though times that thing would work great for months, I always could
tell when it was going to need some road side tuning if you were in a hurry
and look down and saw you were waring your best jeans and NEW white truck
/car shirt, you just new it was time! In looking back I would not change a thing!
I drove the truck to the truck show and rod run in TENN. and drove it to atlanta dragway Fun Ford, and pulled a trailer a lot.


Now our fleet is 94 crown vic,98 crown vic X police car, 65 Pro-Street truck,
69 mach 1 race car with a built 351w msd 6al.



P.S. last time I ran the mallory daul point was ten years ago, but I still
remember that every time I poped the hood someone would say you should
get rid of that mallory! Even if you were just checking the oil.



Wally Womack

 

[quote=cfrives3;5994693]Were you running a hotter coil?
Yes I was,I can't remeber what size it was but that is why I ran a wider gap on the plugs.I run a motorcraft BSF42C spark plug.My worst prob.with the hotter set up was the points didn't seem to last very long,but in my younger days the points were changed on the side of road to get ready for the next race.I still have the set up on the shelf I will take a look and see what size the coil was.

That old ford suprised alot of guys out of the hole