majorkong

I have an 85 GL. I have a problem with rough engine operation and almost no power . I bought a Haynes manual and a vacuum gun and started poking around for the trouble spot. The reason for this post is the air gap adjustment inside the distributor. The gap between the "reluctor" and the pickup is supposed to be between .008" and .016" but it's almost Zero! I can't understand how it can be so far out of adjustment and still run! I also can't figure out how it can get out of adjustment with two screws holding it down. I need help with loosening the screws for adjustment. One of them is easily reachable. The other is under a plastic dust cap which covers the pickup and says "DON'T REMOVE". Can I remove this cover without screwing anything up? I could remove the whole "breaker plate" but that would require taking the vacuum advance unit off and I'd still have to take it back out after adjusting to tighten that screw back down. Any ideas?

I have an '85 GL. After experiencing rough / low power operation I checked the distributor air gap and found that it was almost ZERO! It should be .008" to .016". I can get to one of the screws but the other is under a dust cover that says "DON'T REMOVE". The distributor is a Nippondenso breakerless type. Any experience with this?