[POWERSTROKE]

Dwell angle is the degrees of rotation of the distributor shaft with the ignition points closed. The number should be as large as possible allowing the coil to have the most electricity possible so it creates the biggest hottest spark. By design, a 4 cylinder distributor has the highest dwell angle, a 6 cylinder next largest, and a V-8 the lowest.

So yes, working to get the dwell angle as high as possible in the range specified is worth the effort.

Dad had all our tune-up equipment in a duffel bag, timing light, special wrenches to loosen distributors, tach/dwell meter, the flexible allen wrench screwdriver to adjust Delco distributors on GM engines. I did tune-ups on my car till the late 1970's, '77 to be exact when I got my first HEI car, '77 Firebird. The Pontiac dealer had a really good shop, had a SUN ignition scope the size of a player piano, everything spent time on that scope before the tune-up was done. They caught a defective rotor in the distributor of my Firebird, It was jumping random sparks from the coil to the distributor shaft thru the rotor, had an intermittant stumble or miss. Tough to find unless you swap lots of parts, but crystal clear on that Sun scope.