points and more questions

[joeamelia]

Hi all, I have been intimidated by points, condensers, and distributors for ever, to the extent I have never touched mine, and since we are planning on doing the great loop starting next may (with our atomic 4), I was going to buy an electronic ignition.
Over the weekend, after a beautiful sail, the motor would not start. I was unable to sail into our dock, so I tied up on the seawall, and followed our troubleshooting guide.
I had spark to the end of the coil wire, and its the weekend, so I had to delve into the distributor.
The points were not separating when the distributor shaft turned, so I adjusted the point on threads (screwed it in) until there was a separation, then I turned the key, and there was spark! I am impressed with myself, and the discussions on this list (fortunately I had an internet connection).
I am now ready to replace the points, condenser, etc.
My question is, how will I remove the existing points? (Prestolite distributor).
It appears that I would just loosen the side nut (that the wires are connected to) and the points lift out. Is this correct?
Are directions included with the tune up kit you sell?
Next question is about timing. If I replace it all without removing the distributor (preferable), will I need to do anything with the timing?

thanks for all your help!
Joe

ps, I received the new raw water pump (greaseless) and its beautiful! It was intended as my spare for the trip (the one on is still the old gear pump, works great) but I will probably install the new one (no grease to worry about, and will probably pump better) and keep the old one as the spare.

[Don Moyer]

Joe,

The short answer to your question is "yes", removing the terminal nut on the side of the distributor housing will enable you to slide the terminal bolt into the housing until the points assembly can be lifted out. Assuming the insulating materials are all intact, you can insert the new points in the same manner as the old ones came out. The insulating materials include the sheet which lays between the spring of the points and the housing and the fiber spacers.

The stationary part of the points unthreads from its mounting post after loosening the tiny lock nut. Please be careful not to drop that tiny lock
nut!

If you decide to remove the distributor to change the points, bump the engine over with the starter until the rotor points to a convenient reference point so that when you reinstall the distributor, you can align the rotor to the exact same location.

Set the point gap to .020" when the points are at their widest.

Don