292 Questions

[RichardJ]

>>Setting a points gap at .019 is just a starting point,<<

Not really.
A real gap of .019" should give a dwell of 31*, but the problem is that many people don't have a good sense of feel to actually get .019". It takes a soft tough and a perfectly straight alignment with the feeler gauge to get the right gap.
The movable point arm has a spring with only about 16 oz of pressure and can easily be pushed out of the way by the feeler gauge. This results in a narrower gap than you think you have and higher dwell reading.
It's best to use a feeler set that can be taken apart and use the single .019 strip.

>>pull the Vac line hose off the carb and plug it with a golf tee.<<

it is hard to stick a golf "T" into a metal vacuum port. Remove the hose from the vacuum canister and stick the "T" in the hose to stop any vacuum leak. If the carb is close to being adjusted correctly, there won't be any vacuum from a Ported Vacuum port, but it's best to plug it anyway.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by RichardJ

>>Setting a points gap at .019 is just a starting point,<<

Not really.
A real gap of .019" should give a dwell of 31*, but the problem is that many people don't have a good sense of feel to actually get .019". It takes a soft tough and a perfectly straight alignment with the feeler gauge to get the right gap.
The movable point arm has a spring with only about 16 oz of pressure and can easily be pushed out of the way by the feeler gauge. This results in a narrower gap than you think you have and higher dwell reading.
It's best to use a feeler set that can be taken apart and use the single .019 strip.

>>pull the Vac line hose off the carb and plug it with a golf tee.<<

it is hard to stick a golf "T" into a metal vacuum port. Remove the hose from the vacuum canister and stick the "T" in the hose to stop any vacuum leak. If the carb is close to being adjusted correctly, there won't be any vacuum from a Ported Vacuum port, but it's best to plug it anyway.

The Vacuum line from my distributor to the carb is a ~1/4'' D. rubber hose. golf tee is perfect here. On stock applications, I guess there was a 1/8'' steel line, but my 292s have been modified since '78. Also with running HEI for the last 3 years, my points/dwell proceedures are rusty.
But it goes without saying, that you should make sure the breaker arm is at the highest angle on the six-sided block when adjusting points.