Stripping spark plug threads is much more common with modern aluminum heads. Take your time and you shouldn’t have a problem.
Good to know, thanks. We’ll see what happens
yeah, the only trouble I ve had with removing plugs is reaching them. just try to clean all the crap away before and after using the Pb Blaster.
its gotta be done if you want it to run well
When you do a tune-up and adjust the point gap, or dwell, be sure to add a drop or two of distributor cam lube to the area rubbed by the block on the points. This goes a long way towards making sure they maintain their gap and a drop or two every 5k miles won’t hurt.
Dry distributor cams can wear the point blocks down quickly which then leads to poor running and in some cases outright quitting if the gap becomes too narrow.
Assuming you don’t have a dwell meter and since many parts house people will probably give you a blank look if you asked for one, just set the points with a feeler gauge.
@ok4450 will do. Where can I find distributor cam lube? Will a drop of regular 10w30 do the trick?
Just ordered new cap, rotor, points, condenser, plugs, and coil. Just need to get wires. Should be in in a week or so.
I’ve usually had the lube included with the points. More like a grease. Do you have a felt patch held against the cam? If so, any good oil on that patch is OK.
At some point you will have to venture inside the distributor and change the points and condenser…If you do not have a point set and condenser, now would be a good time to round them up…Or you could buy an aftermarket electronic ignition and be done with points and condensers… Have you even looked at yours yet? Is your distributor towards the front or rear of the engine? Front, hopefully…
Yep, you should get it with the new points (you are getting new points, condenser, cap, rotor, and wires, right?).
Yep all those parts are on the way through rock auto. The distributor is located towards the back but isnt hard to access.
Thanks, everyone, for this very enjoyable thread. It’s giving me a neat look at the cars of a decade before my birth. They sound so wonderfully mechanical, closer to the Titanic than a Focus Titanium. Modern cars are a mess of sensors, computers, and electric motors. Old cars are gaps and greases and vacuum lines. Not that we don’t still have some of those things, but they aren’toften problems.
Ok just waiting on points and plugs. Oddly enough, the brakes were kind of working today. As long as I pumped them a few times before each use there was a firm pedal. I even accidentally locked one up. (pretty sure it was just one). What would this mean? air in the line?
@Fender1325
You have drums all around, correct?
If they’re locking up, you may have an out of round drum, contaminated linings, etc.
This means you’ve got only one wheel braking.
I would remove all the drums and inspect the brakes…Take a picture of a front and a rear brake and post them…
If you need help pulling the front drums / hubs, ask! we are here to help!
You can use the silicone dielectric grease sold for plugs and wires on the cam for the points. Its about the same viscosity as the grease that used to be sold as points lube.
I bought a small tube of points lube back in the mid 60’s (66 or 76 I think) and I still have the tube, there is still some left. The silicone will last longer.
Cool, thanks. Yes it is 4 drums all the way around. I’ll have to take it apart and see what I’m dealing with. I’ll post more later. Out of town but will be freshening up the ignition stuff next, then brakes.
Well I put on the new wires, coil, condenser, points the old rotor and cap looked fine. We ran it, got the timing pretty good and it runs and responds much nicer. That is until I said well I might as well run the new cap and rotor. Well they just wouldn’t fit well. So I ran the old rotor and new cap. Well I got a backfire, and it cracked the old rotor. Tried fitting new rotor and it cracked that too. It just doesn’t clamp nice. And also, the car ran hot again when we had it going. We think there’s too much rust inside the block. Frustrated.
Start looking for the correct AC-Delco cap and rotor…Or new old stock from a company like Niehoff or Echlin…Sounds like the reproduction parts are junk…
Yeah. That’s proving to be tough. Never thought this simple of a part would be this difficult.
As I was leaving I just noticed it’s leaking gas at the tank where it connects to the send line. One step forward three steps back. The joys of restoring. It’s one of those days where you feel like selling the dang thing!