Harmon collins distributor flathead....

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

We have over the years done up a few of these old dudes but this one was a very nice one.
The advantage ( other that just looking cool on a vintage race flathead) is the use of dual ignition coils. This does two things , one it allows the dwell to increase allowing maximum coil saturation time and two the coils have a better cooling cycle.
We use twin 4.0 ohm coils , one for each set of aircraft magneto contacts.
The plastic parts were carefully cleaned using a injector ultrasonic bath , new points installed and adjusted , then synced to a proper phasing (machine required). Then ran on test unit for proper advance specs etc.
The base distributor is factory ford other than a machined cam with only four lobes ....
Makes a very nice unit when complete. I ran this one at 6000 rpm for a period of time with good spark output all the way up......

 

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

Some more pictures:
And forget the injector pics at the bottom...

 

[JM 35 Sedan]

Bubba, this is exactly the one I have been waiting to see, hear, and read about since I'm planning to run a dual point, dual coil HC on my '35 traditional hot rod with a 284ci, 59 engine and 2 SB 97's. Thanks for posting this information. Will download this into my files for future reference
BTW....the crab caps that Bob Drake is selling will work on the stock Ford crabs as well as the HC. Not sure how many know about that

 

[grumpys hot rods]

Harmon collins distributor for a Flathead, Now that's something you don't see every day !!! Way to cool !!!

 

[Ol' Ron]

I need a rotor for one.

 

[Straightpipes]

I need a rotor for one.

Me too. My HC has the original cap. It has both sets of numbers on the face.
I've read that using the wrong cap can ruin the rotor. I don't worry about that because i still don't have a rotor...........

 

[Ol' Ron]

I think making a rotor is my next project. They have sone strange machines up at the high school including these GLUE machines that make things from a plastic and glue them together. They also have CNC machine for training that could machine a rotor. Ther're not very big. I think I'll take my rotor up there and see if they can make a dozen or so.

 

[JM 35 Sedan]

The rotors do seem to be the missing link for service parts availability. I have found a good source for new points and front caps.

 

[Bruce Lancaster]

If you can make'em...I think the world is hungry for more than a dozen!!

 

[Russ/40]

Some more pictures:
And forget the injector pics at the bottom...

Bubba, for a dummy, please explain the two photos that look like 8 vials of fluid?

 

[JM 35 Sedan]

If you can make'em...I think the world is hungry for more than a dozen!!

Yes, I agree, the world is very hungry for some of these Harmon Collins rotors. Just think....if we could possibly talk one of the big early Ford V8 parts suppliers into making a multi cavity high volume production mold for this rotor, at a cost of maybe $100,000.00+, once the word got out one the streets of the free world, they would probably sell dozens of these each year, but knowing those money hungry marketing folks (like I once worked with ), they would probably want to set the piece cost at something around $1000.00 each , just so they could pay off the darn tooling cost in the next eight years

 

[Ol' Ron]

If the correct material is placed into a small CNC machine the price would be minamal, probably less than a coupla hubderd.

 

[pinstriper40]

I've got a friend who sent his dual point HC distributor off to get an HEI conversion done on it... too bad he didn't get the old parts back. Heck, too bad he did it in the first place. I don't think he knew what he had. Any way I can un-convert it from HEI back to stock? It's got a good case and cap and everything...

 

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

Bubba, for a dummy, please explain the two photos that look like 8 vials of fluid?

I also own Linder Fuel Injection and recondition automotive fuel injectors every day and ship them all over the country. (3 employees do this part)
These was from a typical day at the flow bench and is a example of what we do etc. As you can tell the flow is way off (they should be perfectly even and at a set rate etc).
Andy (my injection manager borrowed my camera and i load the pics before i caught it....

More info on the injection shop at :
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Linder-Fuel-Injection-Service/292319214152609


Injectors become contaminated and we ultrasonic them, reverse flush and restore back to factory flow rates. At a fraction of the cost of new . We do anything that sprays gasoline.......

 

[steve-cook]

you could make one on a 3d printer actually grows plastic parts really cool we have a high dollar one at work and we make unbelievable parts on video showing a home one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnChn7vtWHU&feature=related

 

[Ol' Ron]

YUP! I should be young again. I was building EFI's for Flatheads 20 years ago, unfortunately they didn't work very well. I'll post some pics of them

 

[52merc]

jim the sbc you did for my 8ba is a work of art the engine runs very nice thanks ahain trev new zealand

 

[Chris Haynes]

The rotors do seem to be the missing link for service parts availability. I have found a good source for new points and front caps.

The points are simply Bendix aircraft magneto points. Available at an airport near you.

 

[JM 35 Sedan]

The points are simply Bendix aircraft magneto points. Available at an airport near you.

That has been discussed here in several previous posts, plus part numbers were given. Many thanks to Randy in Indiana for initially finding and posting that information here and helping me get the parts I needed.

 

[poweredbylincoln]

Nice work!! Could anyone tell me how to id an original harmon & collins distributor
What would the casting marks (letters/numbers on the bottom of the distributor be)?
Distributor body,where it meets the face of the block?

Also what wouldbe a fair price for me to offer as a core and same with a nice cap?

Thank you!!