Re: Re: Re: What Is Dwell??

Posted by Wild Bill on September 09, 1998 at 20:14:15:

In Reply to: Re: Re: What Is Dwell?? posted by john d. on September 09, 1998 at 06:51:53:

: : : I put my tack on my 1946 Farmall M and it has dwell on the tack as well as the R.P.M.. What is dwell, how do you read it,what does it mean, how do you understand what it means and fix if the dwell is not right?
: : : thanks Terry
: : Dwell measures the number of degrees of rotation that the points in the ignition are closed to allow the magnetic field to build up in the coil. for a 4 cylinder engine it should be about 52 degrees and a six cylinder should be about 35 degrees
: : hope this helps

: Well said, and 30 degrees is the usual dwell angle for a V8. The dwell angle is another means of measuring point gap. It was an especially useful way to set the points on a GM engine which had the screw adjustment which could be changed from outside the distributor. On other makes, it's really just another means of checking to see if the point gap is correct. Set your M points carefully with a CLEAN feeler guage, and they'll be okay.

John is right , make sure the feeler guage is clean. I wipe mine off with brake-clean before using, then when your done hit em with WD40 or some such so they won't rust up in your tool box.

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