Best distibutor choice for my 1948 59AB?

[John Kennedy]

My friend gave me an early distributor, has the two caps on it, think its 33-36 era. Pretty neat setup, 3 bolt mounting, coil mounts in it....

I also have my stock crab style. 1948, 2 bolt mounting....

My question is this: What distributor setup would be best for daily street driving, can it be converted to a durable hall-effect or similar, and has vacuum advance?
I'm not opposed to swapping out front covers and such. Just gathering parts as I go.

It will be triggering a neatly-hidden Megasquirt injection system and I want durability, we're not going racing! (much)

Thanks!
John

 

[Ol' Ron]

Bubba, keep the crab.

 

[ken ct]

If the crab as you have use it. If its the 46-48 rabbit eared type i would convert to the 42 which is the true crab one. Change to the 42 1 piece cap,the rotor and add the clips to hold the cap on and you got the best of both worlds,and the small rubber boots on the plug wire cap ends. I have all the parts if you need or any of them. ken ct.They are reliable units. ken ct PM or email igadore@sbcglobal.net

 

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

I would join with the others and say the crab is the way to go......

 

[BillM]

can it be converted to a durable hall-effect or similar, and has vacuum advance?

Here is a link to my conversion to a magnetic pickup; a better vacuum advance setup than the stock vacuum brake would be nice, but gets complicated.
http://home1.gte.net/wgmumaw/Distributor%20Conversion/DistributorConversionBills.htm

 

[Ol' Ron]

This is a great conversion and works very well. However, do not use a hi output coil as the cap and rotor wont like it.

 

[John Kennedy]

Good info, thanks guys! I'll just keep my original '48 then.

 

[JM 35 Sedan]

I agree with the others. It's hard to beat the reliability of a quality rebuilt and tuned crab distributor. Also hard to beat the looks of the crab IMO. I'm planning to run a crab rebuilt by Bubba or a Harmon Collins set up on my 59 284 CI engine.

 

[1oldtimer]

I have a Bubba built pertronix crab and it works great.

 

[John Kennedy]

While we're talking distributors, what's a Spaulding setup worth? Same friend has the distributor and two red finned Spalding coils for a flathead.

 

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

While we're talking distributors, what's a Spaulding setup worth? Same friend has the distributor and two red finned Spalding coils for a flathead.

Would love to see some pictures on this one.....got some pics of the unit and the coils???

 

[John Kennedy]

I'll be at his shop after work today, I'll try to grab some pics

 

[Slick Steve]

I would love to see some Spalding Coils!!!

 

[ken ct]

I would love to see some Spalding Coils!!!

Hey Slick,wheres the carb ??? ken ct. hi bubba.

 

[John Kennedy]

Here's the Spalding setup. The coils are marked Delco-Remy, nowhere could I find the name Spaulding on it.