Distributor 'Sealant Plug'

Charles Reese

Charles Reese

Well-known member
Amongst the neat details laid out in the latest JSs revision is a ‘sealant plug’ covering the condenser to bus bar screw opening … makes sense. Is this an actual preformed ‘part’ or simply some form of wax material wedged into the hole? If the later, where does one find such a material that will not melt with engine heat?
 

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I formed a plug out of some gray rubberized sealer that I got to seal openings on my motorhome. I don't remember the brand name, but it seems to have held up well with engine heat for several years.
 
A guy in our club still has the original plug in his distributor. I bought some sealing wax, but it melts at too low a temperature. I'm going to try some dum-dum. When I used to install aftermarket air conditioners at the dealership I used a lot of dum-dum where the hoses ran through the firewall.
 
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the composition of the plug is un-known. It is wax like. Most guess it is a high melting point wax. I think it is gutta percha....fwiw,jm
 
Possibly Chatterton's compound, a mix of gutta percha, tar, and rosin. By itself, gutta percha is not very adhesive to metal and easily peels away. Chatterton's was in common use for electrical work in the 20's. An old trick when sealing leads out of an iron motor frame was to work the Chatterton's with a well-tinned hot iron, which the compound would not stick to.

Side note: In french speaking nations common electrical tape is referred to as "chatterton's" LINK despite the fact that it is not the material of old.
 
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Lost wax casting people have sources for a lot of different composition wax types., Some you can machine on a lathe. There must be a high temp wax in there source catalogs. Jack
 
Mike,

Your post got me thinking, I have a NOS Kester tinning block, for the plug. The plug,
I thought, was some kind of wax. I have 2 cousins that are Dentists, they both use
burn-out ovens for lost wax castings, the waxes are color coded for temp I think.
Just some thoughts.

Dudley
 
I thought about the JBWeld but then one would need to take it out occasionally to replace the condenser ... thus it would need a pliable inner lip of some sort.

Dudley: looks like you're onto some entrepreneurship! Not sure you would get any return on investment, but suspect there is a ready market for a few thousand!
 
MikeK said:
Possibly Chatterton's compound, a mix of gutta percha, tar, and rosin. By itself, gutta percha is not very adhesive to metal and easily peels away. Chatterton's was in common use for electrical work in the 20's. An old trick when sealing leads out of an iron motor frame was to work the Chatterton's with a well-tinned hot iron, which the compound would not stick to.
Click to expand...
That sounds like a likely canidate. I've made a plug out of gutta percha, it looks about right. I've not been able to test it through heat cycles though. It does not appear 'sticky' enough. The original plugs leave a residue, which could be the mixture of the the three ingredients. Sounds like the next experiment will be making some chatterton's. Thanks for the information.
 
There's a nice picture in Victor Page's book - The Ford Model A Car - p 318, fig. 108 in the revised 1973 version.

The caption and text in the preceding page states that it is sealing wax covering the condenser screw.

Here is a wikipedia leak ... er , link ... to sealing wax

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealing_wax

Tom Wesenberg has already noted that sealing wax was not suitable. I think that modern sealing wax for envelope sealing would withstand the engine temperature, but it sets quickly and might be difficult to apply. I may experiment !
 
Richard Redmond said:
There's a nice picture in Victor Page's book - The Ford Model A Car - p 318, fig. 108 in the revised 1973 version.

The caption and text in the preceding page states that it is sealing wax covering the condenser screw.

Here is a wikipedia leak ... er , link ... to sealing wax

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealing_wax

Tom Wesenberg has already noted that sealing wax was not suitable. I think that modern sealing wax for envelope sealing would withstand the engine temperature, but it sets quickly and might be difficult to apply. I may experiment !
Click to expand...

Yep, that's the stuff I tried. I called all over the Twin Cities to even find the stuff, then drove to a store in St. Paul and bought a couple sticks of it. I put a tin can in a pan of boiling water and touched the sealing wax stick to the tin can. It melted right away at 212*, so I knew it melted way too soon to be used in the distributor. I thought it would have melted at a much higher temperature.
 
Melt some candle wax and brush it into the hole so as not to allow anything to stick. Without looking at mine at the moment, you may also want to "dam up" any area beyond the opening as well to prevent seepage. Mix up some JB Weld and pour it in (JB KWIK is my prefered type) and let it set up. Now remove it and you'll have a plug that fits your new opening and can be reused as needed. Worth a try, no?
 
Several of us have tried this with less than stellar exults. I have used silicone, casting wax, and even air conditioner sealant ( a.k.a. Dum-dum ) and all of it eventually melted out and made a mess in the distributor or on top of the cylinder head.. One of the Ehrenhofers and I were even looking at the print at the archives trying to figure out what it was made out of, ....AND why it was there. We could never figure it out. Kudos to the one who finds something that looks authentic and is usable too.
 
You could try some Babbitt putty. It's dark coloured, plyable and withstands high temps.
Ted
 
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Just a thought, but I have made crude castings out of Babbit, melts with propane, but is solid with engine temperatures, works easily with a file. I used old insert bearings for a source. Just melt it off the bearing.
Terry
 
d.j. moordigian said:
Mike,

Your post got me thinking, I have a NOS Kester tinning block, for the plug. The plug,
I thought, was some kind of wax. I have 2 cousins that are Dentists, they both use
burn-out ovens for lost wax castings, the waxes are color coded for temp I think.
Just some thoughts.

Dudley
Click to expand...
How *** my car runs OK, without it?????????????????????????
Willy Bill
 
Not to highjack Charles thread but my distributor has no plug... So a good idea to have that opening closed --yes?
 
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