Dwell / timing oddness

[Lorna c]

Ok so basically why would my dwell have to be large to run properly ? Like a 30 ! If I close it up to a 50 dwell the timing is so bad I can't read the lines because they'll not
be visible.. this has been like this ,to my knowledge , the entire time . I've always just opened it back up and then forgot about it . Now with nothing going wrong with my car I'm digging into things in the back shelf of my to-do lists .
Explanation of symptoms when in a 50 dwell
Weak power . Very weak power and hitting a bit higher rpms it'll pop into action so to speak grabbing hold it feels like and has pop again in the throttle and car jumps into action . Otherwise it feels sluggish .. I do remember having addressed this before and don't remember really solving it except opening the gap back up. Now after learning about spark , it's way better to stay closed longer so what do I have wrong ? It's almost like it's 180° out but it's not . I have had the distributor pulled out a few times and don't remember if I moved the car or not when it was removed .. didn't know it mattered . Does it ? I just don't understand why if it's at 50 dwell my timing is so off and absolutely no power like it's trying to chase the pistons instead of power . Then when I move it back to 30 or less dwell , it popps off the pedal with power . But the spark must be super weak like this no ? Anyway does anyone know why ? Or have heard of this before and it's been fixed somehow ? I'm stummped and been trying for a year off and on to figure it out with no avail . Heeelp please someone know this one ?

[Lorna c]

Shoot . No one's delt with this ? I have a smog distributor is that a problem for this maybe ?

[Lorna c]

It doesn't make sense to me either ...it's an odd motor I have I think.. but it's ran awesome before many times . I just don't know how it did .. still drives great but I know I've.felt better .. I was hopy it was something stupid I messed up that y'all knew what it was . I guess who knows what I do to this poor motor huh , to make it run the way it does sometimes..

[Toptech360]

How are you checking the dwell?

[redroadster]

Dwell changes timing , quite a bit,
Why do you want a high dwell angle ?
With the range given in the specks the shallow angle is what to set it at to start , with points wearing , to the wide angle , anyone out there have a Sun distributor machine still ? ...man you used to make $$$ off those a day, tweaking weights , points , cond

[Lorna c]

How are you checking the dwell?

With a dwell meter ..

[Lorna c]

How are you checking the dwell?

With a dwell meter .. then ×2 for 4 banger .

[Lorna c]

Dwell changes timing , quite a bit,
Why do you want a high dwell angle ?
With the range given in the specks the shallow angle is what to set it at to start , with points wearing , to the wide angle , anyone out there have a Sun distributor machine still ? ...man you used to make $$$ off those a day, tweaking weights , points , cond

I don't want a high dwell . The car do . Can I bend the arms of the points ? Seems like maybe I could get a smaller gap and it opening it at 10° btdc if you can bend them .. been thinking things through today and looking at it trying to ponder why it's doing what it's been doing.. and the only solution I can think of with my limited anything on this car would be maybe the points can be bent to open at the right time and not needing a huge gap to do it.. this distributor I believe can go up to 60 two or three on the dwell but like 54 for the low and I can't get it to 50 without it being so far off it's crazy..

[Lorna c]

Been thinking of converting it to an electronic fuel injector distributor thingy that I see you guys talking about on yours. But I'm starting with a smog distributor. I don't know what that means but I'm supposed to get a too far of an advance? It advances it's 30 I think, or so, but I don't see how it's causing any issues with the motor running on the freeway or anyting what's it supposed to do having an event so much ,spin around and blow up? because it kind of runs out of horsepower before it gets even close to being too high for RPMs.

[Toptech360]

Set your dwell to spec. And then adjust your timing.

This assumes that valves are correctly adjusted first and foremost.

[spyder]

Dwell is a ratio of how long the points are closed versus open. Spend a few bucks and change to an electronic ignition and quit worrying about dwell.

[bobd]

Here is an older discussion of dwell and points.
viewtopic.php?t=16090
Points gap - 0.018 - 0.022 in - Dwell - Hitachi distributor - 50-54 deg - Mitsubishi distributor - 56 - 61 deg.

As stated by Toptech360, set the dwell then set the timing

[redroadster]

Centrifical weights working ,moving ?
This is why they made a dizzy tsting machine

[Lorna c]

Yeah I hear ya guys . The car isn't normal . Lol. Or I'm not.. anyway, I do want to do the electronic ignition . I've done a 50+ dwell and my timing is so off and low with no room to turn up . I'm missing something somewhere in this set points in distributor set dwell then timing thing . Somewhere .. anyway I've gotten it to a place where it runs well enough for now , and it's time to switch it out . More reading on how ,and a million questions on it I'm sure ... so with a smog distributor , or does the distributor go away ? Wait no it can't . So . What do I get for this ? I know I know look it up Lorna .. haha my dwell is at 30 for now . I'm going to try one more time to set dwell first then timing now I've bent my arm on points . Maybe it'll close longer and give me my 60 this time .. well I'll report back if I nail it .. and if I do I probably won't convert . But wait , you get more horsepower I've read ? So it will be in the near future . But I really want to dial this in before I convert it . Just because I need to figure that out . It's been a bit since I have .. with my choke all set correctly it idles great finally !! But has no balls . I'll check my valves too . It's been over a year since I've opened it but they were set perfect .. got all kinds of horsepower when I nailed those . Anyway , sorry but I'll have a few questions on this conversion that will be coming, so your not done with me yet . haha
Oh the weights is part of the advance yes ? So those work if so .. ok one more time for giggles . Maybe it'll happen this time .. I love the idling though . I got that fixed !! Ok wish me luck .... Back in a bit .

[Lorna c]

And thanks for the other conversion .. cleared some things up for me ..