seeking opinions on condenser

H

hueyhoolihan

Well-known member
having a continuing problem with an engine that will readily start when cold. almost instantly in fact. and yet when driven to the point that the engine bay is warmed up on a hot day and then turned off, will not restart, even if the attempt to restart is less than two seconds, unless allowed to cool off for about an hour with the hood open.

this happened a couple of times in succession. start car, run until completely warm in 90F temps. turn the ignition off, and immediately back on and it turns over like a champ but not so much as a cough unless i wait for about an hour.

car is a '41 with a 42-48 three bolt to two bolt adapter plate and a 42-48 crab-style distributor.

i'm blaming the condenser. it's an original one i think marked on its base with "Motorcraft" and around the bottom edge with "IGA 12300-B". i'm getting a bit of spark but it doesn't appear very strong. an hours cooling off and the engine will start immediately and run smoothly until it warms up and then turned off.

I'm ruling out "heat soak" because it will fail to start immediately and there is zero "soak" time, and "vapor lock" because the engine runs smoothly until i turn it off.

i've got a new condenser from Dennis what's-his-name on order, as it promises to be a good fit, from what i can see. and i don't want to fussing with tiny screws and nuts in the very limited space i have to work in to remove and install it.

what say ye? :)
 
If Dennis Odom's "Tubman Trashcan" doesn't solve your problem you won't be able to blame it on the condensor, for sure! Possibly a Skip Haney coil rebuild will be a good plan.
 
petehoovie said:
You should also consider the ignition resistor as a possible culprit...
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thanks for the suggestion, but removed it a while back. just before an old pro flathead guy up in Santa Rosa replaced my working electronic distributor with a 42-48 era, adaptor plate two-bolt crab capped distributor utilizing a cannister style coil mounted on the left front inner fender well, just above the horn. it worked for a while, like a couple of sixty mile trial runs, but now we're back with the "no start" routine. which goes like this: engine and engine bay is completely warmed up, then car is stopped and ignition turned turned off, and then immediately is turned back on. the engine turns over extremely well, but never starts. as if someone pulled the coil wire off. and then an hour later it will start up and run like a clock as if nothing was ever wrong.

the gentleman from santa rosa said he removed the electronic distributor because he didn't know how it worked. which was probably true. and replaced the ebay 94 knock off with an original Ford one that he had rebuilt. anyway, i didn't argue, as the car was running better than it ever had...for a while. :(

i'm hoping the original (it looks the part anyway) motorcraft condenser on the distributor gave up the ghost sometime during those two 60 miles test runs. and that a new one from mr. dennis will fix it. if so, it's a lot less work than removing the distributor on the car and the adapter plate and putting the electronic distributor back on for the umpteenth time!
 
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I have checked my records and have no record of dealing with "hueyhooligan". If it was under some other name, I can't make the connection.

So, if you are referring to me, we'll have to start over.
 
I second the magneto condenser. I would not use an original Ford condenser since they have not been manufactured in such a long time and condensers do degrade with age.
 
No doubt that the Vertex is a great condensor but with the Tubman Trashcan you not only get performance but the nostalgic look is the "nuts"!!!!!!!!! LOL
 
34fordy said:
No doubt that the Vertex is a great condensor but with the Tubman Trashcan you not only get performance but the nostalgic look is the "nuts"!!!!!!!!! LOL
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I have heard nothing but complete satisfaction with Tubman's condensers.

For me, the condenser must have the concourse correct appearance. Thus, I install a Hunt's Magneto condenser (32mfd) within the "case" of a Ford script condenser.
They are about $35 but well worth it. Very good quality indeed.
 
Easy things first. The coil can be bench tested if you have a breaker set and a good battery. The coil can be warmed up by leaving it circuit connected to the battery for a short while to do a warm test. A lot of regular condensers are not well connected and can be temp sensitive. The hand made ones using modern materials should last a long time.

If the condenser and coil check out, I'd look for a power valve leak or something like that. The modern power valves are kind of like modern condensers.
 
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My condensers were and still are built to provide the proper "look" for an externally mounted condenser for aftermarket high performance ignition systems. Nothing looks worse than an ordinary FLAPS condenser hanging off the side of a restored dual point distributor. Being made of the highest quality components, they are also very reliable. Although never intended, this reliability has lead to them being used with stock ignition systems, on which they perform very well, even though that was never my intended market. All of which makes them quite expensive
 
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tubman said:
My condensers were and still are built to provide the proper "look" for an externally mounted condenser. All of which makes them quite expensive
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I disagree with you on this Denny. Not at all expensive for what you provide!
That beautiful brass condensor is a "one and done" and worth every penny IMO
 
Thanks for the kind words, Don.

Here's a couple of samples of them used as intended. And because they are brass, they can be polished.
 

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I was considering it, but my partner in this took it upon himself to automate the process. He has been doing a bunch of work for his other projects with an outfit called "Send-Cut-Send" and wanted to see of they would work for small stuff in brass.

They did an outstanding job, and we have been able to eliminate 100% of the manual lathe work on these. Unfortunately, we got a little carried away and spent an additional $2600 (not including his time) getting it done. Our total cost from them is about the same as it was before, but now all I have to do is put them together, eliminating the lathe work which I can no longer do. We bumped the price by $40 to $100, which will allow us to recover our investment if we sell 50 more units. In addition to everything else, my health is slowly improving, and I can do a lot more than I could last year.

The worst case is that the hard part of making these has been "computerized" so it can't be lost. My partner is not a car guy (electronics), but I would expect him to offer the suite of files to the proper group after I am gone.

Getting old complicates everything.
 
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