Are points always this annoying?

[Davep]

I haven’t had an XS or any other bike with points for years. Is setting points on an XS always such a pain?
I’ve set the gaps but it’s difficult to be 100% sure with feeler gauges as the points stay open for ages, and it isn’t easy to see the highest point on the points cam.
I’m not sure my new Chinese points are the best too, one set wasn’t going to earth when closed until I filed them. Even now I’m not sure if the spring is up to the job.

I’ve set the static timing but the bottom set of points seems to vary as it gets to the F mark. The top set seems fine.

Can anyone tell me what the dwell angle should be for a D model?

 

[Jim]

Can anyone tell me what the dwell angle should be for a D model?

For all points bikes, the shop manual say 93° plus/minus 5°

 

[Jan_P]

Sticking out my neck here Proving my incompetence but I cant remember anything about any dwell angle.
To take into consideration
If I recall right I set the gap to spec rotating the engine so it newer was to big and then checked with the strobe light adjusting if necessary .
If one of them was off
Pretty sure the bike ran better with points stock coils than Boyer Bransden
But OK age may be a factor ( Not only on the bike )
It was the advance unit that made me leave it springs to weak and me not lubricating the rod.
I remember there was electrical shortcut at times Causing swearing

Someone perhaps can downgrade me from Guru status.

 

[hovel]

Forget the dwell angle. Yes the points are supposed to be open for a while and during that time the gap should be consistent. The important thing is that once you have the gap correct, the points must open exactly on whatever mark you're using. This is not possible with the naked eye and will require some fiddling. When you think you've got it, check your results with a strobe light just as Jan P wrote. It's the cylinder-to-cylinder timing that's critical and must be spot on. A thou or so difference in the gap is of no consequence.

 

[5twins]

You'll have to do some math to use the factory dwell spec on a meter with a 4 cylinder scale. You'll need to divide the dwell value by 4, probably because of the dual points. So, the 2 cylinder spec is 93° ± 5°, or 88° to 98°. Divide that by 4 and on your dwell meter's 4 cylinder scale, you'll be looking for 22° to 24.5°. Now, a dwell meter's reading is inversely related to the points gap, in other words, a larger reading indicates a smaller gap. So, I try to get the points set as close to 22° as possible. This gives me the largest in spec gap.