I bought my '68 back in 2002, the previous owner had converted it to pointless. After watching your video, I understand what he did. Thanks for another great video!!
Great engine work. I have no experience with points. Learned a bit with your video. Great information as always. I have the same bird in my yard. The one that was in the background of your entire video.
Good stuff as usual. There's been some recent revelations regarding cam lobe and lifter failures on flat tappet cams. The issues seem to be stemming from poor machining of both the cam cores as well as the lifter faces. Hardness testing has shown that these parts have proper hardness. However the lifter face crowns are being poorly machined and in some cases the cams are being ground flat instead of with a taper. Without the proper crown to taper angles, the lifters don't spin and they wipe the lobes almost immediately. Flat tappet cams and the lifters being used should therefor be checked for proper machining of the lifter face, taper of the cam lobe and run-out of the cam core itself. That seems to be the ticket for success right now.
@@VinylVillageGarage I don't think it's necessary with stock type camshafts, but I'd file it under "couldn't hurt." I'd nitride the cam and have the lifters DLC coated as added insurance. If I was running a modern fast ramp cam, I'd definitely nitride and DLC coat the lifter face.
Easy test, take a pair of old painted factory Pontiac covers cut a slot in the top big enough to watch all the push rods spinning under the rocker arms on first fire up and cam brake in. If all the push rods are spinning the same amount for the first 1/2 hour of cam brake in, your good to go. I have never lost a motor doing it this way in 50+years. Yes you can have a failed cam tarin, but you can shut it down before any damage happens to all the bearings & oil pump..
looks like a decent set up. i picked up the pertronix 3 setup which is awesome...no ring or anything also has a built in timing retarder for high compression which i have and a built in rev limiter too. nothing like the old metal ring they used to have. literally connect it to a battery to set the rev limiter. timing retards up to 15 degrees then goes to your initial timing. also...for cam break in a few people have said to remove the inner spring and helps not tear the lobes and lifters up....dci motorsports is very adamant about that. good video. hope the spring idea helps
I have heard of running a single spring for break in and it really could help. Engines I built 20+ years ago never had an issue and I am sure I rarely ran them for 20 minutes to properly break in the cam. Something has changed and not for the better unfortunately. But going roller cam in a Pontiac all in gets to be spendy like $2k range, cam, roller lifters, custom pushrods, roller rockers new studs. So doing everything possible to save a cam during break in isn’t a bad idea at all.
I know what you mean. I'm doing a twin turbo 467 and have about 1700 in cam setup. Got a good deal on some scorpion rockers otherwise I would be over 2 k in that setup.
@@VinylVillageGarage I have a few 988 blocks but I'm stretched thin for all the parts I've been buying for four vehicles. Don @ dci Motorsports is coming out w a new series of ram air 4 &3 heads and new aluminum and cast iron blocks so holding off for that he was the designer of the all Pontiac tiger heads and ia2 block. I have a 11.9:1 tunnel rammed 461 on e85 right now. In 68 lemans convertible. Just got new wenzler ram with 102 mm throttle body and terminator x max muliport Fi to put in there for summer. If you check my channel you will see that and the 79 t/a I'll finally be doing up this winter. Doing 68 GTO for my brother right now
In this case yes only because I also used the factory resistor wire for the coil. If not running external resistor you need the coil that has it or it will burn up the new module
Great pointless video! I will do the same pointless modifications to my car when the time comes. So if you did this with the distributor still in the engine, would it mess with timing at all?
You made the point pretty clear that points are pointless in the electronics age. Great vid!
Well you got the point 😎
Definitely not pointless. This seems like a very worthwhile upgrade and easy to install. This will be going on our engine when installed. 👍
I have used this set up in a couple birds now and have been happy with it.
I bought my '68 back in 2002, the previous owner had converted it to pointless. After watching your video, I understand what he did.
Thanks for another great video!!
Very cool. Glad it helped fill in the blanks.
Great engine work. I have no experience with points. Learned a bit with your video. Great information as always. I have the same bird in my yard. The one that was in the background of your entire video.
lol. Yeah That bird likes being center stage on a lot of my videos.
In the middle of restoring a 35yr barn find, dont have much expeience with points so i am definitely doing this !
Right on it’s a fairly simple mod and much easier than maintaining points
I’m running the Petronix in my 68. It’s gotta be 15ish years old.
The old stuff was great! I had it in my gto almost 20 years now and no issues.
Good stuff as usual. There's been some recent revelations regarding cam lobe and lifter failures on flat tappet cams. The issues seem to be stemming from poor machining of both the cam cores as well as the lifter faces. Hardness testing has shown that these parts have proper hardness. However the lifter face crowns are being poorly machined and in some cases the cams are being ground flat instead of with a taper. Without the proper crown to taper angles, the lifters don't spin and they wipe the lobes almost immediately. Flat tappet cams and the lifters being used should therefor be checked for proper machining of the lifter face, taper of the cam lobe and run-out of the cam core itself. That seems to be the ticket for success right now.
I believe you are spot on. Thanks for sharing
@@VinylVillageGarage I don't think it's necessary with stock type camshafts, but I'd file it under "couldn't hurt." I'd nitride the cam and have the lifters DLC coated as added insurance. If I was running a modern fast ramp cam, I'd definitely nitride and DLC coat the lifter face.
Easy test, take a pair of old painted factory Pontiac covers cut a slot in the top big enough to watch all the push rods spinning under the rocker arms on first fire up and cam brake in. If all the push rods are spinning the same amount for the first 1/2 hour of cam brake in, your good to go. I have never lost a motor doing it this way in 50+years. Yes you can have a failed cam tarin, but you can shut it down before any damage happens to all the bearings & oil pump..
Great tip! Thanks
I would have to wait to drink the Mountain Dew until after this tedious surgery.
Good point gotta watch hittin the sauce to soon before a major operation. 😎
This video was soooooooo POINTLESS hahahahaha great video brother!!
🤣🤣🤣 thank you pal!
John very informative vlog!! Keep up the good work!!👍🏽
More to come!
looks like a decent set up. i picked up the pertronix 3 setup which is awesome...no ring or anything also has a built in timing retarder for high compression which i have and a built in rev limiter too. nothing like the old metal ring they used to have. literally connect it to a battery to set the rev limiter. timing retards up to 15 degrees then goes to your initial timing. also...for cam break in a few people have said to remove the inner spring and helps not tear the lobes and lifters up....dci motorsports is very adamant about that. good video. hope the spring idea helps
I have heard of running a single spring for break in and it really could help. Engines I built 20+ years ago never had an issue and I am sure I rarely ran them for 20 minutes to properly break in the cam. Something has changed and not for the better unfortunately. But going roller cam in a Pontiac all in gets to be spendy like $2k range, cam, roller lifters, custom pushrods, roller rockers new studs. So doing everything possible to save a cam during break in isn’t a bad idea at all.
I know what you mean. I'm doing a twin turbo 467 and have about 1700 in cam setup. Got a good deal on some scorpion rockers otherwise I would be over 2 k in that setup.
@@oldschooltwist18 very cool twin turbo! What block did you use? Did you go all and get an IA Pontiac block?
@@VinylVillageGarage I have a few 988 blocks but I'm stretched thin for all the parts I've been buying for four vehicles. Don @ dci Motorsports is coming out w a new series of ram air 4 &3 heads and new aluminum and cast iron blocks so holding off for that he was the designer of the all Pontiac tiger heads and ia2 block. I have a 11.9:1 tunnel rammed 461 on e85 right now. In 68 lemans convertible. Just got new wenzler ram with 102 mm throttle body and terminator x max muliport Fi to put in there for summer. If you check my channel you will see that and the 79 t/a I'll finally be doing up this winter. Doing 68 GTO for my brother right now
@oldschooltwist18 Right on! Will do
A couple of mechanics I watch are having the same lifter problems....they get OEM if available.
It’s unfortunate for sure. There are many reasons why but all come down to poor materials and machining it seems.
Nice mod
Yup simple and cost effective
Good stuff....thanks👍🔧
You bet
💪😎
Thank you
That's a 'gooder' distributor....
Gooder indeed
I noticed that the 2 screws that held the yellow eye piece actually pushed the base plate up,did yours do that?
Well not that I noticed. I have done two of these kits now. I will have to check
Good stuff Jon! Do you still use the stock Coil??
In this case yes only because I also used the factory resistor wire for the coil. If not running external resistor you need the coil that has it or it will burn up the new module
Good thing most of your videos are far from "pointless"
lol. I do appreciate that.
Great pointless video! I will do the same pointless modifications to my car when the time comes. So if you did this with the distributor still in the engine, would it mess with timing at all?
Not excessively maybe a degree or two at most. It depends on where the window lines up in comparison to the drive lobes for the points