Dual Point conversion kit

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Dana Barlow

Senior Member
Many years ago,there were kits=was a plate for dual points you would put in a Ford dis. that was only one set,too make it two. I see a few Mallory old ones,but I remember one that used 2 reg points? Is my old thinking just wrong or was it like a JCWhitney thing. I'm playing with a 57Y V8 292.
Would like to find a kit or whats left of one,so I could try an play with it. No I don't care for chip Pentex crap.
 
I've bought a couple of those kits on ebay.
They come up now & then. Usually made by an outfit called Dyna-Flyte, model 378-D
I have the kit in the '57 dist in my Bird. It works just fine and uses stock '57+ points.
You do have to mount the condenser on the outside of the distributor, no problem.
 

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Back in the late 60's I had the Mallory kit to put dual points in the 57 and later distributor. I had a 57 Tach drive distance that came out of a police car that landed in a wrecking yard of a Ford guy. The points used the original cam, and overlapped, so it wasn't a "true" dual point in my opinion at the time, but it was a Mallory part. It had vacumn switch that wired to one or the other set of points or between them (50 years later I don't remember) that gave an increase in timing be dropping one set out or something. I didn't use it, I think it's still out in a box in the garage.
 
Thanks, that's set up I was hunting Dmsfrr . That info will help the hunt greatly.
miker98038,sounds like your idea of duel point is mixed up with dual coil,there are some dual coil set ups. I remember one by Spalding{spell?},twin fire or some like that;used 2 coils,one for each 4 cly. making each coil have more time to build spark/so not the same as dual point alone.. But both cool ways of getting more spark.
As for dual points,that's when the point dwell over laps=longer dwell for more spark power=that's why dual point gives more spark to plugs at higher RPM,with one coil.

I've never see or herd of anyone trying to redrill a plate from one point,making it for dual point,but would be cool to have a drawing of how to do that !
 
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Hmmm, I say to myself, why go to the trouble of installing dual points in this day and age? It may be to go old school. because old school is now cool. But, no one will know, unless you show the car with the distributor cap off! For any performance use, an electronic conversion is far better.
 
40 Deluxe said:
Hmmm, I say to myself, why go to the trouble of installing dual points in this day and age? It may be to go old school. because old school is now cool. But, no one will know, unless you show the car with the distributor cap off! For any performance use, an electronic conversion is far better.
Click to expand...
Yes you're right. The performance potential is better with electronic. But after a bad personal experience in traffic with a failed electronic conversion kit and an oncoming dump truck, I don't use the e-conversion kits anymore.
In a stock or basically stock engine the dual point setup is more personal preference than a functional advantage.
Points do require attention more often but using that as an excuse to keep an eye on things under the hood isn't necessarily a bad idea. ;)

And they're more straight-forward to fix when they go south...
https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1885051#post1885051
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The Ford factory Hi Po dual point distributor parts can be installed in the 57 and up distributors fairly easily. Done it myself. Personaly would go with the Petrronix as I have done and keep the points and condenser in the glove box just in case.
 
Fact is,I've always been able to make points get me home, and I'm too cheep to want a stock pile of new type junk in the trunk, do to the new plastic box replacement,when it fails,it's total dead forever and no fixing it=must be replaced with new high $ crap box. I'll stay with points,but would like dual. Had some years back,but got sold with that car.
Thanks,nothing wrong with those that like the new stuff. Just not stuff I like.
 
Not to discourage you, but a heads up. The points and condensers you get today (no matter who is the supplier) come from china and they are total crap. I have actually had the point contacts fall off the arm on the highway, such that the arc had to jump a gap to make spark. When I got in town, it quit altogether due to dwell angle being so far off. I'm surprised it ran at all. Condensers should be expected to fail in ambient temperatures of 90+ degrees F (where engine temp develops to about 180 degrees F. That is totally un-acceptable, unless all you're going to do is drive around the block and shut it off.
I suggest going to a junkyard and getting as many original points out of 1957-1964 distributors as you can. Bring 'em home and file the points with and extremely thin point file and finish off with crocus cloth. They will last practically forever as long as they are properly adjusted and condenser capacity isn't way off. Far as condensers, I got nothin for ya. Don't use old ones or N.O.S. The materials inside decay with age. If you have a condenser that works, don't change it just for the sake of changing it along with points and rotor. Leave it in there until it dies.
 
I ran a dual point Mallory plate in a 56 dizzy back before 1960. It worked great. More recently, I used a Pertronix in a 57 dizzy, but I toasted it after several years. I used stock points after that, but with two springs for the points, and greased the cam regularly. That worked good too.
 
Since we are on this distributor topic...I have a 57, that was a 2-BBL. I changed it over last year to a tri-power. Read somewhere that the 4-BBL card had a different vacuum advance int he distributor. Any one konw anything about this? My car seems to run fine. Wonder if I should leave well enough alone. (Offy intake, 3 Holley 94s, with the two outboard ones being different carbs - not make-do's)
 
Gene F said:
...I have a 57, that was a 2-BBL. I changed it over last year to a tri-power. Read somewhere that the 4-BBL card had a different vacuum advance int he distributor. Any one konw anything about this? Any one konw anything about this? My car seems to run fine. ...
Click to expand...
The '56 and earlier distributors operate the timing advance based only on a 0 to 5 inches of vacuum signal from the '56 & earlier carburetor(s).
Starting in '57 the distributors changed to having mechanical timing advance with a supplemental vacuum canister. Those need a carb vacuum signal of 5 to 20 inches of vacuum.
Not sure how you get the 'correct' vacuum signal for the '57 distributor from the presumably earlier three deuce setup,
or how much it matters...

I'll guess Sal knows.... scicala
.
 
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