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This is just a curiosity....

Why in '51 would a Delco-Remy distributor have a specifications for the dwell angle ranging from 21-30 degrees, but in '53 the dwell angle is very specific, 31 degrees?

When setting points with a dwell meter is it best to do this with the engine running? A couple of youtubers show doing it with the dist cap off and cranking the engine over to check dwell, but when I do it this way I get a different reading than when the engine is running.

Instructions for my analyzer, along with several online, say to check dwell with the engine running, which seems to make sense as it would provide a truer reading.

I've set my points at 31 degrees with the engine running and then adjusted the timing to 6 degrees again. I had to close the points from where I had set them to using my feeler gauge to get the reading to 31 degrees.

Is that with the advance disconnected?

It wasn't. I think Ross mentioned on another post, at idle there isn't enough vacuum on these ported systems to affect the vacuum advance when setting the timing. BUT, I think I should disconnect it and check it again as that could account for the difference. Thank you, that's a good observation.