Jeremy then installed the points plate. I then turned the rotor and let it go and tried to turn it further in the direction of the return. It should not turn and should be solid against the stop inside. But we had a problem, I could turn it further by hand than it was returning by the springs. The springs should always be able to return it to the stop. In some cases I have heard of the springs being too light. In this case we found that we had an after market points plate that was poorly designed. The cam was hitting a tension retainer clip on the points plate. It was also hitting a spring clip on the bottom of the cam. This can be seen in the first picture but we didn't notice it until we stated checking the return on the springs.
Jeremy took the points plate back off and we could see where this had been rubbing for years. The timing was never close to being right on this engine with this plate installed. It most likely was erratic. Jeremy said it actually died on him early. He took the cap off, moved a few things and it started again.
I just happened to have the old stock dist. out of my car that was all apart.
The shaft was worn to bad to use so I had bought a new billet dist. I took my old points plate, cleaned it up, and we installed that.
The factoy points plate on the left. After market on the right. You can see the clip and spring in the lower center of the after market plate that was rubbing.
