POINTS

[deereman]

IF I CAN SEE THE POINTS FIRING, DOES THAT MEAN THEY ARE GAPPED RIGHT? IF THEY AREN'T GAPPED RIGHT, WILL THIS MAKE AN ENGINE RUN ROUGH AND SOUND REALLY LOUD? WHAT COULD OTHER CAUSES BE.

[Joe Guilbeau]

"Really loud" sounds like an exhaust leak somewhere.

Vacuum lines that are loose will make it run rough.

What recent mechanical activity has occurred on the vehicle?

Are you shouting over the vehicle noise?

The points gaps are easily adjusted to see the effect, and if they are not gapped correctly, the Jeep will not have a real smooth idle.

I will let the collective take over from here, as mechanicical expertise is not my forte.

Just saw your post and thought that I might be able to start the conversation off.

[joe]

You need to set the point gap (0.018" is common) with a feeler gauge or a dwell meter. The cover on a book of matches used to work well and then doubled over to gap the plugs but I think they're made of thinner paper than they used to be. Once you get the gap set correctly you'll need to re-time the motor.

[Knucklehead]

18-20 thou or 31 degrees dwell. make a huge difference on the performance. especially above 2000rpm. if is gets rough above 2000 rpm check your points. coil could be weak as well. or a bunch of other things

[Stolen76]

book shows .016" on gap and 30 dwell. I had to run mine at 28 degrees dwell to get it to run right, but I also do not have a resistor inline with the coil

[lgrjeep]

Some tips: Since I'm old enough to remember this stuff. Set the gap using a dwell meter, it is more accurate particularly since almost no one spends much time using a flat feeler guage anymore. Watch the meter needle after the cars running, lots of "bounce" take a look at the wear in the shaft bushings. Third, any grease or oil on the points, and they will be toast in short order. Dwell angle is in direct proportion (2-1 ratio) to engine timing, any change in dwell angle will change the timing. You must set your point gap first then timing. Changing timing will not change gap. To high of voltage will also toast the points quickly. Hope this helps.