quote:

To work on the distributor on my 1961 K1000 4WD GMC Suburban, I climb into the engine bay and sit on the inner fender.

GM trucks up to 1998 with the small-block had very spacious engine bays that you could sit in while you worked.

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1960-1963 GMC V6s are the only engines other than General Motors V8s that had a distributor cap with a point adjustment window allowing points to be adjusted externally while the engine is running.

This was dangerous on the Buick engines (their distributors were front-mounted), as the window was next to whirling fan blades.

I don't even have my dwell meter any more, but in a pinch, you can get the points close enough to run, screw them out (increases point gap, decreases dwell) until the engine started to miss, screw them in, again until it started to miss, then turn the adjustment back halfway. A matchbook was a cleaning and adjustment tool. The striking surface would clean burnt points, one side of the cover was a feeler gauge for setting them, and folded over was a spark plug gap feeler gauge. I haven't done any of this in ~30 years. And don't miss it.

trapper,

I did a search on YouTube on the oil change procedure. It has a plastic oil drain plug?

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Originally posted by egregore:

quote:

To work on the distributor on my 1961 K1000 4WD GMC Suburban, I climb into the engine bay and sit on the inner fender.

GM trucks up to 1998 with the small-block had very spacious engine bays that you could sit in while you worked.

quote:

1960-1963 GMC V6s are the only engines other than General Motors V8s that had a distributor cap with a point adjustment window allowing points to be adjusted externally while the engine is running.

This was dangerous on the Buick engines (their distributors were front-mounted), as the window was next to whirling fan blades.

I don't even have my dwell meter any more, but in a pinch, you can get the points close enough to run, screw them out (increases point gap, decreases dwell) until the engine started to miss, screw them in, again until it started to miss, then turn the adjustment back halfway. A matchbook was a cleaning and adjustment tool. The striking surface would clean burnt points, one side of the cover was a feeler gauge for setting them, and folded over was a spark plug gap feeler gauge. I haven't done any of this in ~30 years. And don't miss it.

My owners manual has the procedure for setting points of turning until it misses then back the other way 1/3 of turn I think. Web lore is that this procedure works well and is nearly as good as using a meter. I should do this procedure and then check with a meter. But I already set with a meter.

Got to watch those whirrly bits. A friend had his hand go through the V belts of his inboard ski boat and really messed it up. I'm thankful for the stark reminder to be careful and go into high alert whenever the engine is running and hatch is open.

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Originally posted by Edmond:
trapper,

I did a search on YouTube on the oil change procedure. It has a plastic oil drain plug?

Yeah, the pan is plastic (some sort of composite really) as well. I wouldn’t normally watch a video for an oil change, but when I went to order filters and found they were the cartridge kind, I figured a video would be prudent. It’s the 3.0 EcoBoost motor.

DANG! SIGforum costing me more money AGAIN!!

Thanks for the link, tatortodd…[like button]

Changing the oil & filter, battery, etc, are some of the few things I can do anymore to our newer vehicles. And they're making that harder.

My 2015 GMC needed a new battery last year, but the fender brace goes right over top of the battery. No way to change the battery without removing it.

My wife bought a 2019 Grand Cherokee & we had free oil changes from the dealer for two years. When it came time for an oil change, I got a filter, but when I looked at it, it was a cartridge filter. I thought, that can't be right. Nobody uses them anymore. It was right and the filter is ON TOP of the engine.

I got another surprise when I looked for the battery in the Jeep. There are heavy positive & negative terminals under the hood, to use when jumping a vehicle, but no battery. The battery is under the passenger seat!

I think the engineers sit at their desks, laughing their asses off, and yelling to one another, "Hey! Come look at this! This'll drive them nuts."

Under the passenger’s seat, nice.

I did finally find the battery in the Explorer yesterday and at least it’s in the engine bay. I was in a bit of a rush the first time I looked and just hooked the air compressor to one of the batteries in my truck. The battery in the Explorer is in front of the firewall on the passenger’s side hidden under a plastic panel.

Changing the cartridge filter was sweet, except for it being under a brace between the strut towers running across the engine. Probably the cleanest filter change I’ve ever done.