If you fire it up at night the answer might be obvious. Amazing where spark can jump to.
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If you fire it up at night the answer might be obvious. Amazing where spark can jump to.
Scratching the brain cells now - it's a long time since I've worked on red motors, but used to do a lot of it.
From memory, points gap should be initially set at about 15 thou, then adjusted using dwell meter.
As previously stated, your symptons sound like points gap set too close.
Usual indication of worn out points with holden was always that engine will be difficult to start when hot. Starts OK when cooled down, but if you stop for short period when engine hot, say to duck into the bottle shop for a 6 pack, bloody thing will not want to start when you come out. (Definitely speaking from experience here).
Do yourself a big favor and get electronic ignition.Cheap and easy. Pat
at the age of the engine dont discount worn dissy bushes, easily picked up with a dwell meter
cheers
blaze
Points gap - .019" - .025", Dwell angle- 30 - 35 degrees. Book says 5 degrees initial advance but I always found at least 10 is better, sometimes 12 - 14. Try 10 and if not getting a light ping under load at lower rpm's then give it some more. Max centrifugal advance is 33 degrees @ 4600 prm. Max vacuum advance is 15 degrees @ 10" mercury.
Check the wear in the body/ shaft. This causes much variation in points gap and dwell when running.