C-263-points, plug wires, plugs questions

I took the carb apart again. Instead of spending $41 for a new float, which I may still have to do, I took a punch and partially flattened out the dent in it where the needle rides. Set the float level a 1/16" over to 1 3/8" to allow for the dent. Put it back together making sure it cleared the gasket. Then I shook it a few times and I could hear the float moving up and down without catching on any thing. The float seemed to stop the free flow of fuel now.

Added a 3/8" tee below the fuel tank outlet with a 2" nipple and cap to catch any rust along with adding a ball valve at the middle of the tee to shut off the fuel as the new sediment bulb now installed after the ball valve didn't seem to totally shut off the gas.

Put in a new 12v internal resistance coil from NAPA, the IC14SB. Put in new IH points along with the new IH condenser that was in there. I can't find a 11/32" wrench anywhere (no one carries them anymore) but found a 9mm worked just fine.

Put on new 7mm copper spark plug wires of the brand from Orscheln. I taped them out on a yard stick for a week at home to try to get the coil out of them.

Put in new autolite 388 spark plugs.

It was late and I didn't get to drive it, but it started up and ran just as slick as can be once I remembered to put the wire back on going from the coil to the dist. I still need to drive it to see if still boggs down in second gear though.

3 questions though:

1. The points adjustment. I would use a .020 feeler guage but when I tightened down on the screw for the final tightening, it would move the bracket and open up the points. I finally adjusted them with a .010 guage and then tightended it down. That left it with the proper .020. What is the best way to do it or what is wrong here?

2. The new spark plug wires are so stiff that I had to route them up and around where they touch the hood or are too close to the block. The new ones were also a right angle attachment at the plug and ride close to the block. The old wires were soft but they had some burnt ends and the ends stuck straight on to the plug where they weren't close to the block and the old rubber boots didn't stay tight on the new dist. I used some of that electrical grease on the new ones. With a couple of them, the boots and wires don't want to stay pushed down in the dist cause of the stiff wires and I don't like the way the copper ends attached to the wires. I know they will come loose or get burnt up over time. Anyone have a better idea on what to do for plug wires?

3. The old plugs. They were a D16. I put in a hotter autolite 388 gapped at .025. I numbered them as I took them out. Seems like 4 or 5 of them were oily and 1 or 2 around the middle of the engine were dry and carboned up. This motor has a lot of blowby but it doesn't smoke out the exhaust very much. Does the condition of the plugs suggest anything to anyone?

Thanks to all for your help.

Anyway now I can concentrate on fixing the hydraulics and the steering. I've been riding it around without a seat cause I'm trying to take that plate off under the seat to trouble shoot the hydraulics. There is one bolt head left that was so messed up I can't get vise grips to hold. I'm just waiting to take a welder out there or maybe more easily just take the torch and braze a nut to it. Once that cover is off, then I'll start a new thread about what to look for and where is the psi relief valve in there that could possibly be plugged up.

Regarding the plug wires, I just remember in the old days that touching a plug wire or coil wire has shocked me and I worried that being too close or touching metal or touching each other could cause the wire to short out but maybe they make better insulated wires than they used to. It might have been my old 57 chevy that taught me to use insulated pliers when troubleshooting with plug wires while it is running.

The tank issue is hopefully the final fix from this summer when I acidized the tank to get rid of the rust. It still makes a little rust though. After I bought the IH original sediment bulb it never would completely shut off and gas would slowly leak out thru the carb over a period of time and gas isn't cheap anymore. I don't have an air cleaner on the carb which is another project coming up. The factory sediment bulb had an extension that would stick up into the tank a little ways that probably kept the very bottom of the tank from draining into the bowl. I had added a piece of window screen folded and wrapped around it and held with small aircraft safety wire which then stuck up into the tank about an inch. When I took it out, it had some large particles of rust in the folds and some in the tank I flushed out. If the 2" nipple and cap below the tee doesn't catch all the rust, then I can still remove the tee and insert a cone shaped piece of window screen into the nipple going into the tank to serve as a screen. Just thought I mention this for the others who are having problems with rusty tanks.