QuestionI am having problems starting the car. Orig straight 8 12,671 miles on car. I have put in new plugs, cond, rotar button adjust points to 0.16 plugs 0.25 gap. What is the dial on side of distributer? And how do I time once I get it started. New points on order. Car ran a week ago but rough.
AnswerThe usual cause of failure to start after this area of the engine was worked on is mixed up plug wires. The other possiblity is that a wire was knocked loose, so check that first before you go to the trouble of sorting out the plug wires. Check the two screw terminals on the coil - one from the negative terminal should go to the distributor side terminal, and the positive terminal should go to the ignition switch.
If you think you might have mixed up the plug wires, take the following steps;
Remove the front (#1) spark plug from it's hole.
Put a tuft of kleenex tissue over the hole.
Turn the crankshaft clockwise until a puff of air comes out of the hole and blows the tissue away.
Turn the crank another 45 degrees or so.
Now, look in the distributor to see which spark plug wire hole the rotor is pointed at. That is #1 plug wire. Insert the rest of the wires, in the firing order, around the cap in the direction of rotation of the rotor.
The dial on the distributor is the adjustment for different octane gasolines. Don't disturb this until you get the car running. When it is running, you can use the dial to make fine adjustments to the timing, to improve the idle and power of the engine. Do not set it so far advanced that the engine pings on acceleration, but get as close to that point as you can without ping - that is the optimum setting for the gas you are running.
Dick
