ignition in 36 ford pickup

MadmanWilson

MadmanWilson

Member
Im looking to either rebuild the original distributor in my 36 truck or go with electronic ignition. Id like to convert it to 12 volt as well. Any suggestions on what to go with if I go electronic? I saw speedway motors had one for the 36 flathead v8.
 
I suggest rebuilding your old unit and driving on down the road...
Cheaper to do and the helmet is one of Fords best ever made, once cleaned up and broken in with good parts...:eek::D
 
If that '36 distributor is done right, it will work reliably for many thousands of miles at 6 volts. Sometimes change just for the sake of change is not always good.
 
Contry to what most believe the diver Dan (Helmet ) distributor is the Nice's unit Ford made set up correctly with high quality points in 6 volt can be very reliable after all ford made thousands of them . here's a shot of the repoped 6 or 12 32 coil I am developing.
 

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Sounds like I should just get it rebuilt, then. There must be some issues with the electronic ignitions for these since it is pretty common advice from what I've seen thus far!

For the 12 volt conversion I found an adapter at Mac's that can attach to the top of the original distributor and connect to a standard 12v coil - or it was suggested I could have the original coil rebuilt for 12v as well.
 
I have a rebuilt distributor and coil by John Shelor of Virginia in my '35 and it works perfectly. John installs the internals from an 01A distributor which has more spark advance than the original, giving a slight performance advantage with modern fuels. He has a unique process for rebuilding coils and guarantees his work. The combination of properly rebuilt distributor and high voltage coil transformed the way my original '35 engine runs.

Skip Haney also has an excellent reputation for distributor and coil rebuilds.
 
rheltzel said:
I have a rebuilt distributor and coil by John Shelor of Virginia in my '35 and it works perfectly. John installs the internals from an 01A distributor which has more spark advance than the original, giving a slight performance advantage with modern fuels. He has a unique process for rebuilding coils and guarantees his work. The combination of properly rebuilt distributor and high voltage coil transformed the way my original '35 engine runs.

Skip Haney also has an excellent reputation for distributor and coil rebuilds.
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Does John Shelor actually rebuild/rewind the coils with modern high temperature insulated magnet wire? I thought I once read in the V-8 Times that he just drives the existing moisture from the inside of the original type coils by some type of oven baking process.
 
John,

Not sure. I don't think he does what Skip Haney does in terms of modernizing the coils with modern innards, but whatever he does, it sure works. Since I installed one his rebuilt distributors and moisture evacuated coils, my engine hasn't hiccuped even once...it's running perfectly.

But I've heard nothing but good things about Skip's work and in fact have a distributor/coil combination he rebuilt for me as a "reserve" unit. I haven't tried installing it, as I had just put John's in, but I'm sure it's excellent, too.
 
Here's one of John Shelors ,I have done some testing on this coil and it gives a good strong spark ,These are dried out in Nitrogen ,Nice guy to deal with, I see no reason why you wouldn't get years of use out of them .I had a lengthy talk yesterday with a 80- year old world renown air craft Magneto winder he did work for Malory .He developed a process for epoxy potting coils all the moister was purged out using a special process he developed . They have had no aircraft accidents due to ignition in many years . We were discussing what happens to a coil when the rice paper and pitch adsorbs moisture .A lot of knowledge there that will be lost .
 

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MadmanWilson said:
Sounds like I should just get it rebuilt, then. There must be some issues with the electronic ignitions for these since it is pretty common advice from what I've seen thus far!

For the 12 volt conversion I found an adapter at Mac's that can attach to the top of the original distributor and connect to a standard 12v coil - or it was suggested I could have the original coil rebuilt for 12v as well.
Click to expand...

YES sounds like you have the right picture, get your helmet rebuilt, and go 12 volts. ..Please read the " More ""crab"" Praise " ... its a good read, and see some of the work Bubbas dose, and he is in Indiana (speedway ave)..he rebuilds helmets too.... :cool:OLD.....BILL:cool:
 
There is a down side to a 12 volt conversion that is you can break Bendix springs ,and I have seen them with the ring gear pushed of the fly wheel .there are some positives like running your GPS and radio and lights .You can do all this with 6 volts but you need heaver cables and corts bulbs .plus a 12 volt battery is more accessible on the side of the road ,I know Skip Hanny also does good work .there are new windings in his coils . .
 
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