Crab distributor ??

Capt Kirk

Capt Kirk

Well-known member
Dug through my pile of spares in Fairbanks so I could bring home a few things. This crab was one of them. My car has a helmet so I never really paid much attention to this but now that I have it home, I noticed the bail. Is this right or is it something someone made to hang it?
 

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Yours is a post war version....'46 - '48....uses an ugly 2 piece cap. The bail traps the
inner and outer caps. Same dist used with the pre war crab dist cap. Crab cap uses individual clips.
Charlie ny
 
I did a little snooping and saw the crab with the individual clips. That's why I thought this was something someone did to hang it but the bail didn't exactly look homemade. Does anyone have a picture of what this looks like with the caps on?
 
Maybe a bit off topic but I brought back two helmet coils that I had stashed. One has no markings on it and the other has no molded in markings but has a metal sticker that says "Niehoff &Co, Chicago, automotive products, Since 1923". Is there anything special about this coil? I thought about sending both to Skip for rebuild but since I've got a skips coil on my car, I would probably never need them.
 
Most seem to prefer the crab cap instead of the rabbitt ears one. Its takes a different rotor, two piece cap and the cap index is inside the housing instead of outside as well as the outer bail etc.
 

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Capt Kirk said:
Maybe a bit off topic but I brought back two helmet coils that I had stashed. One has no markings on it and the other has no molded in markings but has a metal sticker that says "Niehoff &Co, Chicago, automotive products, Since 1923". Is there anything special about this coil? I thought about sending both to Skip for rebuild but since I've got a skips coil on my car, I would probably never need them.
Click to expand...

Niehoff was once a brand of good quality aftermarket electrical parts. Nowadays (if they're still around) they, like many other old-time reliable brands, have been bought by some el gypo company for just their name and are now garbage made to the new owner's cheap standards by an offshore company.
 
Just some more discussion, i got this from a customer saying the crab cap wouldnt fit????
.
If ya look really close it never was machined for a crab cap with any external machining and the cap locating pin is internal only.
I have had a few hundred of these in the shop and never seen one like it ????:eek::)
 

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Tim Ayers said:
I like the look of a crab, but also really like the look of the rabbit ear cap set-up.
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I think that the rabbit ear set up is FAR more difficult than any of the other V-8 distributors to install wires in. Compared to the helmet style (in which you have 4 wires in each cap), in the rabbit ears, which is only a little more roomy than a helmet outer cap, you have to cram 9 wires, (8 out to the plugs and 1 in from the coil.) The only thing that saved my bacon was the liberal application of WD-40 to the wires to be able to pull them through. The crab is almost as easy as the top mounted rotary distributer (1949 through 1953) because you have 9 plugs for the wires on the outside of the cap.
 
Heaven forbid the use of WD-40, it'll stir up a hornets nest around here!

I am in agreement that the later "rabbit ear cap is a PITA, albeit a bit more waterproof and neater installation than the crab cap.

I have yet to hear anyone on here say they use electricians wire lube. We use it at work for wiring trailers and it makes quick work of an arduous task.
 
RalphM said:
Heaven forbid the use of WD-40, it'll stir up a hornets nest around here!

I am in agreement that the later "rabbit ear cap is a PITA, albeit a bit more waterproof and neater installation than the crab cap.

I have yet to hear anyone on here say they use electricians wire lube. We use it at work for wiring trailers and it makes quick work of an arduous task.
Click to expand...

Ya think the electricians lube is just wd 40 in a different can??:eek:
I went thru the shop and hid all the gallon cans of WD40 after reading this post.....;):D
 
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