Re: point gap = ?dwell angle

[greg - c]

This message is a reply to an archived post by Ken McWilliams on December 01, 2000 at 09:49:48.
The original subject was "Re: point gap ?dwell angle".

i have a massey MF50 - 4 cyl gas tractor with a remy delco dist from 1958. the dwell angle from the manual is from 25 to 34 degrees. it is a 4 stroke engine.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Point gap affects dwell angle but doesn't equal dwell angle.

Generally dwell shows up about 50% duty cycle and the angle depends on the number of cam lobes. On those distributors made for easy gap adjustment while running, a dwell meter works. All the Delco gas tractor distributors I've seen don't work that way but you have to set the gap with the cap off the distributor and it can't run that way.

When setting the gap (on a cam lobe top), there is usually some specification (.022 for the two I own) and increasing the gap decreases the dwell.

After you set the gap/dwell you have to set the timing because changing the gap changes the timing.

Gerald J.