What Does What? A build for everyday IHers!

[Russ McLean]

Originally Posted by Damian Grihalva

See the silver dot? That is the point that rides on the distributor shaft. It needs to be lubricated to keep it alive.


Here's another shot of the new point set with the grease applied.

Um, I'm an old phart that grew up on points ignitions. That little silver dot is a rivet. The phenolic ridge to the right of the dot rides on the cam of the distributor shaft. It gets the grease. Just slide the pile of grease slightly to the right.

Sorry for the nit-pick. This is a great service for everyone - Please keep up the great work.

Thanks,

Russ

[Damian Grihalva]

I appreciate the response. Honestly, the grease got to where it was supposed to go....by putting it where we showed. Not sure if it smeared during installation, or if this particular set rides on that nubbin, but still ~ No worries though.

Thanks for pointing out that one needs to make sure that the grease is put where the points ride the dissy shaft's block.

[Seth Wright]

Damian, thanks for putting together a great thread like this. There's plenty of guys out there like me who have only been tinkering with this stuff for a very short time (<2 yrs in my case) and there's just so many little things to learn. A lot of this stuff gets grouped into a generic sentence, "With a little tune up, it was running great!" and leaves stranded those of us who don't even know certain little parts exist that can make a big difference. It's not hard to find a running IH motor, but as seen on the board and from personal experience, comparing 1 running 345 to another running 345 with similar mileage may yield totally different results because of the little things like this! Keep up the good work, you've got me on the edge of my seat waiting on updates so I soak up some more knowledge!

[Damian Grihalva]

Originally Posted by Seth Wright

Damian, thanks for putting together a great thread like this. There's plenty of guys out there like me who have only been tinkering with this stuff for a very short time (<2 yrs in my case) and there's just so many little things to learn. A lot of this stuff gets grouped into a generic sentence, "With a little tune up, it was running great!" and leaves stranded those of us who don't even know certain little parts exist that can make a big difference.

That right there is exactly why we're doing this Thread. It may not be as totally custom as Cringer or Canuck, but it gives some good information and detailed pictures.

I'm grateful for the shops who are helping with this build. Namely IHOnlyNorth.com as well as Performance Distributors, American Speed, MufflerMasters, and several of the IH guys in my club for donating time, parts, services and all to help us put this build together.

PLEASE remember to thank them when you're talking to them. MAKE SURE you tell them that you saw their parts in this thread and let them know if you're buying from them as a result their help with this thread. Your telling them that helps by showing that their participation is worth while.

...you've got me on the edge of my seat waiting on updates so I soak up some more knowledge!

A HUGE compliment. Thank you. This is the reason I do these builds.

[Damian Grihalva]

Just wanted to update ya'll let you know what has happened since putting the air/fuel filter, cap/rotor and points/condenser in. Although Its not technically ready for the first dyno, I ran a tank full of gas through it ~ strictly city driving. Mileage went from 8.5 to 9.27mpg. Doesn't seem like much, but that's a 9% increase ~ or in laymans terms, its saving me $3-4 PER TANK ~ and this thing has two tanks and this past tank lasted me 4 days. So, if you were to calculate it out, that's saving me $22.50 per month ~ or almost one tank less of fuel consumption each month.

Still need to change the oil, put new plugs and the new wires in, and adjust the timing. Next tank will have that info.

[bdgn01]

Seconding the thanks. This is great information for people like me, who have been farting around with SV engines for years without really knowing exactly how to do things (it's a miracle and a testament to its durability, really, that my truck is still running).

Keep up the good work–I'll be watching and learning.

[Damian Grihalva]

I got an email over the week with some good information. So I'm going to post it.

[the] points with the felt rubbing block (Standard #IH4281XP) will last longer than the regular set that needs the 'grease' applied. The felt piece will need a couple drops of clean motor oil and rubs against the dist cam for continuous lubrication.

The 'points' will probably need to be re-gapped from the points material burning away rather than due to the cam/rubbing block wear. I use the heavy duty points (with the felt piece) and they seem to last over 10,000 miles. Do check the dwell again after a couple hundred miles as the 'high spots' on the rubbing block will wear down changing the dwell numbers. That applies to either style points set.

If you set the gap to the 'loose' side, the initial wear of the rubbing block may bring the dwell right into spec at 28-32 degrees.

I find it much easier to pull the distributor to set the points. It is easier than 'bumping' the starter to get the high point of the cam in the dist. Seems like it either needs 'just a touch more' to 'OOPS'! Getting the distributor back in the correct position is not a problem as I have a 'pointer' on the waterpump bolt and a 'line' on the dist cap.

Picture [1] is a red pointer with the much larger Ford Duraspark II cap.

Picture [2] is what the pointers look like. I now use the polished SS version.

[picture 3] shows the pointer mounted to the backside of the waterpump bolt and the mark on the dist cap of the IH style cap.

Bill Bennett 68 Travelall 304

[235frog]

Any updates on this thread?

[Damian Grihalva]

Well you guys are right, its been way to long since I've updated my builds. So lets get started shall we?

We last saw the T-ette after some mild/moderate tuning. The gain was about 9% in mpgs. Now lets take a look at what the truck will do on the freeway.


During my 'break' from the builds, I found a GPS unit my wifey got me over 3 years ago. So I'll be using that to track mileage and other things about the trip (since my speedo is a little off).

You need at least 4 satellites for a GPS to work. Here's the beginning screen. I've got plenty. Lets roll.

So I planned a trip down to Pueblo for the first 'highway' mileage test. Remember, these will be a base-line for me ~ we still need to do an oil-change and do the plugs and wires before we make the official run, but still, lets see what happens.

First step, since my fuel gauge is on the fritz, make sure we have plenty to make the trip.


Gotta love the spillage the T-ette always leaves.


Topping off with about 5 gallons, its time to go.


Although this is not the official trip, I do want to make sure that I got a good idea of what to expect. So I kept track of the cross-town mileage. From here, its all highway.


And with the speedo nailed at 60mph (GPS read 66), I was the first leg.


At 48.87 miles, I reached my destination.

As you can see, the max speed on the trip is 73.7mph (didn't know my truck goes that fast as smoothly as I was chuggin along). What I'm looking at is the average moving speed vs. the average over-all speed. Frankly, the close they get, the more accurate the outcome. Meaning, you'd expect them to be different if we were in town all the time (since you're stopping and starting constantly) ~ but on the highway ~ if you were truly on the highway only, they'd be extremely close. Here we see about a 7.5mph difference...showing we had sat at a few red lights.

At Dons.


Loaded up my loot and started back.

[Damian Grihalva]

So once I was back, I pulled up to the same gas station, and even used the same pump ~ just 2.5 hours later. Total mileage:

96.48 total. Moving average was 54.7mph, overall average 48.7mph, with a max speed of 74.9 Something to notice. Notice my elevation: We are 6292 MSL (above sea level) at the gas station ~ now lets bring back the picture at Don's Salvage

Here you see we travelled DOWN to 4706 MSL. Meaning here in Colorado, we traveled DOWN 1586 feet in elevation in less than 50 miles. That's life in Colorado!

So how much fuel did we use?

Hot dang, I'll be honest, I was hoping for over 10mpg. Yikes. What does this mean?

An overall mileage of 9.55 ~ that's bad. I say over-all because we had some city mileage in there didn't we... Lets see what the actual mileage was. To that, its going to take another day, and another partial tank of gas. Which I'll post a little later...