I purchased a boat with twin ’57 Johnson 35hp RDE-19 outboards converted to long shaft. I’ve been going through doing all the maintenance things to get the motors back in service. I’ve resealed the gear cases, replaced the impellers, cleared the rear cavity drain of 60 years of mud-crete, rebuilt the carbs, replaced the fuel lines, repaired the internal wiring harnesses, replaced the fuel filters, replaced the coils and condensers, and today I put in new breaker points. But, when I went to adjust them, no dice. These things have to much gap even adjusted as close as they go. This is the first time I’ve ever done points so perhaps there’s something I’ve done wrong but I can’t think what that would be. Maybe my mistake was buying Sierra parts but I thought they had at least a reasonably good reputation. Has anyone else had problems with Sierra points on these old motors? I searched the internet and didn’t find any complaints. What could I possibly be doing wrong?
