58L OMC Tune up issue Now Misssing Bad

"I tuned up my 5.8L last week

"I tuned up my 5.8L last week and took it out on the water this past weekend. It was oridinally running good, but couldn't get full RPM and it was very hard to get started, the tach worked perfect. I changed the points, condensor, plugs, car and rotor. The plugs that came out of the boat were 3 heat ranges colder than what was supposed to be in it and gapped to .044 rather than .035 and the points were well worn and only had a .011 gap. I put the right plugs in it and gapped the points to .019. It started up 100% better and idled great and was very responsive. But under load it now is vibrating bad and missing when bringing up the RPM. I don't know what RPM the miss starts since my tach now goes nuts also. It seems that it is now reading double or more the actual rpm. It will start fine then jump to 1500 at idle (it is idling 650) then once I give it gas go to 4000 then 5500 then 6000. I did check the firing order and I have my plug wires on right. Any help would be greatly appreciated. What did I do to my boat!??"

"Once in a while condensers ar

"Once in a while condensers are bad, brand new right out of the box. I'd recheck the point gap and replace condenser with another new one."

"I will try the old condensor

"I will try the old condensor since it was good when removed. I did notice that the new contact set has a silver metal strip that goes over the brass strip, but the original contact set had both strips riveted to the contact set. The new sierra contact set only has the brass strip riveted and the silver metal strip is like a cover that goes over the brass one. It doesn't look like there is a place to attach it to the contact set so it is just sitting over the brass strip but the one end of it is hitting the cam for the contact set and the other I screwed into the lead post. Is this normal?"

"Your points don't sound r

"Your points don't sound right to me, usually both strips are riveted to the frame, you could have defective or wrong points. Also you should use a dwell meter to check them after setting, should be around 29 deg +- 2 and you need to check/set the timing as it will usually change after replacing/adjusting points. Yours should be 10 deg BTDC."

"I'm not thrilled with Sie

"I'm not thrilled with Sierra for ignition parts. I'd go to an auto parts store for points, condenser, coil, spark plug wires, rotor and cap ( providing that it uses an automotive type dist. cap and not one with a special seal. High performance spark plug wires ( Accel, MSD, ect. ) are good to have."

"I am not sure my distributor

"I am not sure my distributor has adjustable dwell. The points just ride on a post. I will check the timing, that is something i should have done. Here is a link to show the contact set I have. The little silver strip has a kick out on the back and that is what is hitting the cam for the conact set. I fiugred it was just a scraper or guide of some sort.

http://www.iboats.com/mall/partfinder/cart_id.955351046/gd_grid_id.668/gd_poid.1 11676/gd_row.17/session_id.140935861/"

"I can't tell from the pic

"I can't tell from the picture how that piece should go but if it's a spring like material it must need to be there and without it being attached right your points may not have enough tension to open/close correctly, they could be bouncing all over the place causing your problem. Another good reason to have the dwell meter, you attach it and run the engine if the meter is bouncing so are your points. The distributor doesn't have a dwell adjustment per say (some of the old GM dists had a little window you slide up and adjust while engine is running) what you need to do is set the point gap as you have done and then hook up the dwell meter and see what it says with the engine running, if it's off then you need to adjust the points again either open or close a bit."

I also can't really tell h

I also can't really tell how the extra part goes but my guess is that it's the spring for the point set.

So it should fit over the copper strap & hook on the point set in a way that it acted as a return spring.

Check the old points & see how the spring works.

The points sound as if they have no spring to return them to the closed position & are just bouncing around.

"Well on the old set, both str

"Well on the old set, both straps are riveted with the silver one over the brass one. The new contact set has no place for the silver strap to connect to since the brass strip is the only one riveted, UNLESS it is ok to put the silver strip under the brass one. Would the arrangement mess anything up? I wonder if the bouncing points is the reason for the tach reading all funky now?"

You can always clean up the ol

You can always clean up the old points and put them back in to see. Most likely the new ones are causing your tach problems as the both the points and the tach hook up to the neg post of your coil.

From the picture you have post

From the picture you have posted. If you position the parts the same way & just move the extra part through between the pivot hole & the cam follower bring it around & connect with the end of the riveted piece you should have it.

"Thats what I am going to try.

"Thats what I am going to try. The contact set that came out of it had the silver on the outside and brass on the inside, but I guess this one is supposed to have the brass on the outside and the silver on the inside."