Who makes a good condenser?

40cpe

40cpe

Well-known member
My '55 came to me with a loadamatic distributor. I ordered a Cardone reman mechanical advance distributor for a '59 from Autozone. Awesome service, free, fast shipping. I put it in and it ran great. For a while. Today I was testing my power steering shim job and on the way back home the car started missing and jerking badly. It died as I rolled into my drive. I got it in the shop and replaced the coil with a known good one, no help. I had an old flathead distributor and used the condenser from it to replace the one in the distributor and it fired right up. It has been well known on the flathead forum that many condensers are no good now. What brand have you guys been using that are generally serviceable for our Y blocks?
Thanks,
Gene
 
Try E bay,CL etc.The new ones are just Chinese junk.I found old OEM Ford ignition parts on eBay and used one in my 292.Let me see if I have one.
 
Gene
As I recall, your new 55 is 12 volts?
If so, and my mind may be failing,
Get a Pertronix kit & forget about condensors.
Best
Jim
 
Kahuna said:
Gene
As I recall, your new 55 is 12 volts?
If so, and my mind may be failing,
Get a Pertronix kit & forget about condensors.
Best
Jim
Click to expand...
I have seen a lot of guys that loved the Pertronix that they have had for years,but in the last few years Pertronix and companies like MSD have turned to off shore production and now failures are becoming more common. The Accel unit for the 1957 and later distributors have been pretty reliable. But I agree if you stay with points look for OEM Ford condensers and maybe grab a few spares.
 
Standard Ignition's Blue Streak line of parts has always been good for me. No idea where they make them now. Borg Warner used to make good ignition parts.
 
Bubba's distributor repair on this forum will sell you a capacitor which will probably outlive your distributor. Bought one for my '53 and my '34. You must get a little inventive to install in a stock '34 distributor as Bubba's caps have axial leads.
Good luck.

Milt K from Pa
 
Hot Rod Reverend said:
I can testify to the reliability of the ACCEL 2020 pointless ignition units if that helps at all.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the personal reference. I've been a pertronix fan for years, although I understand some have their issues with them. I think I'm going to stay with the points for the short term.
 
A lot of us have went to electronic just because there isn't a good reliable parts store source for points and condensers. I also recommend finding new old stock Ford stuff. Another issue I have is the rubbing blocks on the points seem to need a run in time and re-adjustment. It's not unusual for the points to go closed in 200-500 miles.
 
willowbilly3 said:
..... Another issue I have is the rubbing blocks on the points seem to need a run in time and re-adjustment. It's not unusual for the points to go closed in 200-500 miles.
Click to expand...
Back-in-the-day, IIRC... new points used to come with a small packet of special grease in the box, to put a tiny dab on the lobes, for the rubbing block of the points.
With the lube, the rubbing block can last a long time.
Not sure what it was, or a good substitute??? I need to round up some.

.
 
Last edited:
I too went with a Pertronix unit for my 302. So far no problems but only 2 years running it. It was recommended to me by members of Portland OR Tbird club. It is really hard to know which way to jump with the junk being made off-shore.
 
dmsfrr said:
Back-in-the-day, IIRC... new points used to come with a small packet of special grease in the box, to put a tiny dab on the lobes, for the rubbing block of the points.
With the lube, the rubbing block can last a long time.
Not sure what it was, or a good substitute??? I need to round up some.

.
Click to expand...
I bought a tube at the parts store last year. Kind of expensive and enough to last all of us a lifetime,lol. Like the size of a tube of toothpaste. But I still say modern rubbing blocks are sub-standard.
I always know when it's time to reset the points. You get a little pop or two when you let off the gas.
 
I also purchased a new (remanufactured) 1957 distributor (Cardone 2808) from O'Reilly for my 56 fairlane with the new Holley carb and the car ran great for about an hour then started to misfire and sputter. Thanks to HRR, put in an Accel 2020 points eliminator kit and car runs great now. I can only attribute this to a failing condenser as points gap was still within spec after only 30 minutes of use. Terrible quality and I'll be permanently going to the Accel kit in the next few weeks.
 
Kind of OT but when I went to Cali in 81 I threw a set of points and condenser in my glove compartment that I bought from Ford. Is the condenser any good?
 
Seems to me I read somewhere that you can test a condenser but not sure I remember the details right. First, you remove the condenser, then touch the wire terminal to the case ground of the condenser to discharge the load. Then take a volt/ohmmeter and set the range to the highest available setting. Touch probes to condenser case and the wire terminal. The meter should jump to highest setting then fall back to zero. If it does not do that, the condenser is bad. AGAIN, I am not sure if I remember this right. Try googling condenser test and see what you get.
 
"Back-in-the-day, IIRC... new points used to come with a small packet of special grease in the box, to put a tiny dab on the lobes, for the rubbing block of the points.
With the lube, the rubbing block can last a long time."


Been using the same small tube of lube for about 40 years now.
 
streetdreams said:
Been using the same small tube of lube for about 40 years now.
Click to expand...

HAH!

I can beat that...

I have been using the same tube of KY for forty-seven years ...
sad2.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top