The front distributor was designed to come off of the tractor to replace/adjust the points. Remove the wire on the coil, remove the coil bail, remove the distributor cap & take the two bolts off. The base of the distributor has an offset tang & can only go back one way unless you really force it on. Look at how the points & condenser set in the distributor before you start pulling it down! If this is your first time doing it, draw a sketch! Replace the points & condenser. Make sure you are using quality parts; the points should have a phenolic rubbing block & not the cheap white plastic crap. Be careful not to ground the tip of the condenser wire to the body of the distributor when you replace the points. Do not break the little copper strip that goes to the points. (If you do, make another out of the old set of points) Also, make sure the condenser wire does not go through the same opening in the distributor that the coil pig tail does. The condenser wire goes the opening on the top right. Look at the old points; are they burned, pitted or mis-aligned? Check the point gap, .015 on all four lobes. Make sure you have the star washers under the screws on the points.
Next, with the distributor still off the tractor, install the coil. Look at the pigtail on the coil; is it touching the brass screw inside of the distributor? Don’t trust your eyes; test for continuity from the top of the coil to the points. If you do not have continuity, stretch the pigtail a bit until you do. (some people would rather put a small washer under the brass screw) Look at the little tab opposite of the pigtail; bend it a bit also to insure that it will contact the distributor cap. At this point, I just put the distributor, coil & cap all back on the tractor as a unit (it helps to loosen the fan belt). The reason I do this is because it is real easy to get the cap or coil mis-aligned trying to put it back together one piece at a time & the result is something gets broken or you get a ‘no spark’ problem.
Why are you considering electronic ignition? My last set of points in my 1950 frontmount lasted 1 month short of 4 years, and that is by no means a record. If you are having problems w/ the points, it could be because of any number of things, none of which will be cured by electronic ignition. An electronic ignition (EI) for the 6v frontmount is not a wise choice. The 6v coil is really designed to run off of 3v (that's why the ballast resistor is in the circuit) Because of the precise voltage requirements of the EI, even a slightly discharged battery will result in a 'no start' situation. While a 12v conversion & EI will give many years of effortless operation....it does not come w/o problems. The first is cost; compare the costs of annually changing the points/plugs/ condenser/ rotor ($20) vs the cost of a 12v conversion ($145, plus $40 for a 12v battery, or $185) and add to that the cost of the EI ($150) and you get a 12 year pay-back. The second problem is that an EI is quite unforgiving of polarity reversal & other common mistakes of tractor ownership; hook up the battery cables backward & you fry the $150 EI. (unless you get the kit w/ the fuse) Of course, a 12v conversion & EI installation can be done for less than $235....but, if you have the ability to do a 12v conversion & EI, you could fix the problems that are being "solved" by the 12v conversion & EI installation in the first place. Simply put, these are low HP, low compression engines that start & run just fine off of 6v & points.
EI does not give you a hotter spark, more HP, or cure male pattern baldness. It replaces the points. That’s it. EI will not cure worn distributor bushings, a bad ballast resistor, an ill-fitting coil or any other typical ignition problems found on these old tractors. All you get by putting an EI on an N w/ these problems is a poorly running N w/ an EI instead of points.
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