I have to admit I never gave much thought to checking the freedom of movement in the breaker plate, but since I had the dizzy out of the car to put on a condensor and points, I checked the travel. It didn't move easily so I pulled the vacuum assembly and it was still tight. With only a few more screws to go I figured the plate assembly must come out somehow so I gently worked it up with a screwdriver. With the ball and spring clamp off it was still tough so I hit it with carb cleaner and it got a lot better. It is a little tricky to separate the 2 plates as there is a notch and finger to align for removal. This is the point where you have to be really careful not to break the little copper wire connecting the 2 as you work it apart.
More carb cleaner, swabs and a bit of time and it was as clean as it can get. The difference was an incredible increase in freedom of movement. On reassembly I used my favorite Molybdenum assembly lube, Dow 321 and swabbed on a bit on the moving surfaces. I assemble engines with this stuff, bearings, cam towers, chains, anything that moves. Getting it back in tot he housing was a little fun, you have to work against a bit of interference to the aluminum. The car runs so much better now, the CSV fix worked, it fired up after a few cranks. Never did that before.
Now to tackle the front main seal...The underside of this car is a bloody mess. I think I'll have someone pull the transmission to do that seal but for now I can handle getting this done and then get it to the steam cleaner in San Jose for a complete underside blasting.
