Point Gap

I have a 54 Chevy Bel Air power glide. Anyone know the correct gap for points and plugs ? Doing my first tune up on this vehicle. It's still has the 6 volt system. Thanks Larry

 

Now, there is a picture of a factory service manual that has been used through the years. You know that one is real.

 

that's not the factory manual, that's Motors, isn't it?

here's the factory manual. Might come in handy for other stuff, too. And it's on the internet.

https://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1949_53/index.htm

 

The early Dodge factory service manuals had a spec page at the beginning (or the end) of each section covering the things in the section with just the numbers on them. In the service section was where the "instructions" were.

I did use a lot of "Motor" manuals too.

 

To keep the books usable when I taught high school, I would send the students to the library to copy the pages they needed.

 

Aren’t points set with a match book cover? I also have old motors manuals, mine and dads.

 

When you pull into that little dirt rest area about 10 miles west of Little America Wyoming on the east bound lanes and a kid and his wife and her gal pal and a 18 month old baby are sitting there in his Dad's Dodge pickup a worn out emery board out of the gal pal's purse and a match book cover serve well to clean up and gap the points. It fired right up when we had his wife clutch start it while we pushed it too but as soon as she stopped she shut the key off rather than let it idle and I had to jump it with the battery that was in the trunk of my 51 Merc.

MS Coonass bookmark this page https://www.gm.com/content/dam/comp...information-kits/chevrolet/1954-Chevrolet.pdf It is the GM herritage center Archives Vehicle information kit pfd for 1954 Chevy and for a stock or near stock 54 Chevy car it has most all of the specifications you might need to hunt.
This is the screen shot of the info that matches what Moriarity posted.

 

Point box thickness

 

and remember to find an old normal paper clip, to gap the plugs

 

Match book works pretty nice as Mr Anthony has said . Something everyone had on hand years ago .

 

Better have a piece of sand paper or a nail file in the glove box as well

 

Whatever you do, don’t use feeler gauges, might be too precise…

 

Or the suggested match box.
Clean the points with the striker part
Gap with the box

the perfect early ignition tool

 

...back when everyone smoked, and you could find a book of matches without even looking for one.

 

The paper matchbook would also show if there was any oil residue on the point contacts. A 2 in 1 tool

 

I know we are kind of being cute with match books, paper clips, box top....stuff like that.

The Model T manual says to use a thin dime for plug gap, not a regular dime, but a thin dime.

With this said, for a proper tune up you must pay attention to the factory specifications.

Example......
After tuning up my 1951V8 coupe,
It ran like S....H...I......you get the picture.
I tuned it to 6cylinder specs. I read the wrong bracket.
No bueno!

Pay attention to those specs, sometimes there are differences.

 

I wouldn't say we're being cute....we're showing how critical the specs are(not).

 

A dwell meter would be preferred if the spec was available, otherwise gap spec will get it close, and a match book will get it running.

but really. Where do you find match books these days?

 

I found one in the seat of a slightly off topic car recently, with a bunch of other 1970s memorabilia, including a McD's coke spoon coffee stirrer.

 

.013".....Better yet. Less point gap = more coil dwell time = massive additional power! Timing would need to be readjusted accordingly to make the most power though. Life changing stuff.

Lynn

 

Back in the early 70s I installed so many sets of points, I set them by eye. The shop I worked in had a big Sun "tune up" machine (as we called it, it was the big one with the large scope and all the options) that we always dialed everything in with. 95% of the time my eye ball point gap settings had the dwell in the middle of the specs, when it was off dead center, the gap was a touch on the high side (worked well for customers that ran long on tuneups). For several years I did most of the tune ups that passed through, my boss was very good at putting the fastest and most accurate person on each job, that made him more money. Just for the record, the dwell settings usually had a 4 degree range as well, and the factory timing setting was the starting point for optimal performance.

As a side note, we had an old guy that did most of the water pump replacements. That old guy, using only hand tools, could change any water pump in about 1/2 the Motors Flat Rate manual's flat rate time, even the complicated pumps buried under AC hoses and brackets. I was lucky to get the simple ones done at the Motors flat rate time, with air tools.

Moriarity, the old saying was to use an old match book. The old covers tend to swell up as they got opened more, thus being closer to the desired thickness. You wanted a cover with about 1/2 the matches gone. The new match books didn't have enough fondling yet.

 

One thing I forgot last night was that when you set points the rubbing block on the arm of the points (red arrow) has to be exactly on one of the tips of the lobes of the distributor cam to set the gap (blue arrow) right.
Plus make sure that your feeler gauge is clean.
Around this forum it is never wise to assume that one has knowledge of how to properly do something especially since few cars since the mid 70's left the factory with point style ignition.

 

I haven't seen a book of matches in years. The last time I tried to buy matches, all they had at the Supermarket were those crappy little safety matches in little boxes. About 1 in 3 actually struck and lit; the rest disintegrated when you tried to use them.

I don't think they even make "Farmer's Matches" at all anymore.

 

I got mine from Moriarty