The Tune-Up

At last I've given the Falcon a tune-up. New spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor, and contact breakers (points). Everything except the condenser, which neither NAPA nor O'Reilley's had in stock.

First I replaced the plugs, wires and distributor cap. I found out that the spark plugs needed to be gapped to 0.035", which they already were. And happily, the distributor had numbers on top that corresponded to each cylinder so I wasn't worried about mixing up the wires.

Here's before/after:




Here are the old spark plugs (Autolite).


These are the new ones:


Then I replaced the rotor and the points (inside the distributor).

These are the points (old ones the left).


Unfortunately I didn't know what to set the gap to. The manager at O'Reilley's suggested we start with 0.016". So we did. I think that's way off, though. The 1966 Mustang had a 200 cid 6cyl as well and (according to this link) the points need to be set at 0.025", with a dwell of around 39 deg. Next week I'm supposed to be getting a dwell meter from someone at work, so I'll be able to check it.

I also adjusted the ignition timing, using Albie's timing light. I adjusted it to 12 degrees Before Top Dead Center (BTDC). That number came from another 1966 Mustang forum post.

After all that, it doesn't seem to be running any better. Probably because the points aren't set right. I'll have to try adjusting them later.