Breaker points-cam 65 Mustang

1owner65 said:

I was trying to set the dwell on my 65 289 2V mustang. The manual calls for a gap of .014 to .016. At this setting the dwell was off the charts and it wouldn't start. By setting it at about .008 the dwell came in at 28 degrees and it runs OK. Is it possible the cam that operates the breaker is worn down? Car has 184 k on it and I have been driving it for 41 years?

If the breaker cam is worn down, it is a big project to replace it?

I am trying to get it tweaked up a little before selling it.

http://photos.yahoo.com/cmlyneis@sbcglobal.net

Claude

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Congratulation on being an original owner of a 65'!

Hopefully you have installed new points.

The points breaker plate found under the points/condensor may be bad. Basically it is the floor of the distributor that covers the weights and springs. Should be able to find one at NAPA. Remove a few screws and the clip that attaches the vacuum advance rod. Check out the springs and weights and make sure they still look assembled correctly. Installing the breaker plate is just a matter of reinstalling the screws and the clip.

If it isn't that, you need to replace the whole distributor as the cams are not available separately. Some place like Advance Auto may be able to get you a rebuilt one fairly cheap (and it includes the afore mentioned points plate.)

Because your distributor is the original unit, it might be better to disassemble the replacement and put its guts into the original distributor housing. That requires a little more work such as driving out the pins found near the distributor gear.

Dennis112,

What kind of fuel pump and line size are you running?

GoinBroke said:

Dennis112,

What kind of fuel pump and line size are you running?

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Edelbrock mechanical pump--not recommended on most sites, although it works fine for me so far.

3/8" fuel pick-up in the tank with 3/8" lines from the tank to the carb fuel log.

Thanks for the info. You setup sounds pretty close to mine is going to be and I went with a mechanical pump also. I am about a month away from dropping the new engine back in and was starting to wonder if the long tube from back to front would allow the flow I would need at high demand. Thanks again!