Re: Why do Points Need to be Spotless?
Think of a set of points like a switch. The points are closed as the flywheel is turning around, and as the flywheel is turning it has a magnet in it that introduces an electrical current to the coil primary. Once the flywheel turns so that the egg-shaped cam opens the points, that voltage collapses quickly and therefore induces the output of the coil to create a higher voltage because it has many more times the number of windings then the primary side of the coil. So that high voltage goes to the spark plug and jumps the gap to get to the ground side of the plug. And the rest is history and repeatable... So a set o fpoints is really nothing more then a switch. And being a switch, if the contacts are dirty, it keeps the current from building as high as it should. So keeping the points clean and adjusted properly creates the best spark possible. The amount of time the points are closed is called "Dwell" time. and in some factory shop manual they specify the amount of dwell in degrees because the numbers of degrees is the amount of turning involved before opening... Hope that helps a little. Points are an old method of producing a spark as they come. But being so simple they last quite a long time too... :joyous:
