i'm messing with a 70 conv. malibu with a 66 327 w/double hump heads. my frustation is that the solenoid lost mounting screw. which i found was my sparks and power loss. on top of this the points (not even 2months old) were fried. after putting new points the car will turn over but will not remain running and is very choppy. i have purchased an accel hei kit at someones suggestion but have no clue what to do or if this will help.
it has a feeling of being out of time. any advise would be greatly appricated

Points must be set. Do you have a dwell meter? Chevys usually are set between 28 - 32 degrees. After you adjust the points, you will need to set the timing. If no dwell meter, you can set them with a feeler gauge ... Check out a Haynes manual ( about $14 at store ... may be in your local library ). You don't need one specific to your car for the tune-up procedures. You just need one that covers your year engine. Anyway, this is a a good place to start.

i had set the points with a dwell meter between 29 and 30. the problem i face now is that the car will turn over hard and run very ruff and die. this has me very confused and baffled. what could this be?

Check to make sure you don't have a couple of spark plug wires crossed. Trace them all to make sure the firing order is correct and double check the timing. Did you replace the condensor? Good luck,

Troy.

Is the coil connected with the right polarity? I have heard that revered polarity of the coil will burn points.

As for the funny idle, check your firing order and the plug wires to see if oopsed and pulled the end out of a wire.

If everything is OK, and it still does it, you might want to check your balancer to see if the timing mark is in the right spot.

Other than that it just might need a good clearing out. http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif

K