Installing points

[2cams70]

“Necessary”? “Needlessly”?

Neither word is appropriate here. Sure, it can be done either way, so clearly not necessary. But more convenient? That’s a matter of opinion, apparently. If our opinions differ, so what?

As for needlessly - it’s obviously not a matter of need, it’s a matter of convenience. You have to loosen and tighten the clamp whether you remove the dizzy or not, just to adjust timing. At least with my dizzy you do. And I think it’s inarguable that the bolt head is more easily accessed if the bolt is flipped. And if you have a MIG welder sitting in your shop, why not take few minutes and make the mod? But again, if you don’t think the benefit is worth the cost, good for you.

I've never had a problem using two spanners - a small open ended one on that nut and a small ring spanner on the screw itself. As others have said you do need to be really careful not to overtighten that clamp or you'll crack the base of the distributor.

Ideally both the underside of the screw and that of the nut should be free to float a little on the contact surfaces of the clamp because those contact surfaces aren't exactly parallel with each other

[IainP]

If the dizzy collar has been crushed, Martin Jay at Distributor Doctor has a solution. They machine the damaged collar off and replace with a heat shrunk bush. All available of the shelf.
How do I know, I’ve just pulled my dizzy to find the collar cracked………very pleased to know there is a cost effective solution.
Iain

[steve lyle]

But you have the Set Screw through the Slot for fine tuning.
If you choose to change the Points "without" removing the Dissy you only need to "fine tune" . So you don't touch the famous pinch bolt that if tightened too much breaks the Dissy omg.
Alan

No, I don't. Long gone on mine, for some reason.