Modern Points

Gary Gregory

Gary Gregory

Senior Member
I'm having bad luck with the China made mod points I've been getting...only lasting a few hundred miles or less. Where can i get MotorCraft points which always seemed to last a lot longer. Or should i change back to old style points ?
 
What is happening to the points ? ---perhaps there are external forces at work also---could the dist cam be worn or rusty, have a rough surface ---it should be a smooth polished surface, almost mirror like.
Personally I think the reason most people get the "modern" points ---that they can get them anywhere is a self fulfilling prophecy, I go the other way, am still using the points that came with the car, had problems with the old condensers, then I got the A&L one, 40 years on the points,25 years on the condenser--so far.

If the rubbing surface on the dist cam is damaged no points will last, if you are burning up the contacts perhaps the voltage of the coil is wrong or it needs a resistor

Are you lubricating the cam?
 
i had a bad set of points that kept bending . but it was just only one set . all others have been good .
 
Tom Wesenberg said:
I have good luck using old original swap meet points. I see no need to change to another style.
Click to expand...

I agree with Tom. Henry's original design is really the best. I also use points I salvaged out of old distributors.

If you insist on using modern points, I suggest you do something about the tab on the lower plate. Without a condenser attached to it, it can short out against the casting. Install a dummy condenser, or rig up a nut, bolt and large fiber washer to keep it insulated. Or saw the tab off.

On a recent 500 mile tour we had one car with modern points that quit running after a few hundred miles. The fault was the tab up close to the casting that finally shorted out.

Tom Endy
 
When I rebuild a distributor and use the modern points, I install an original condenser but cut the tab off beforehand. This lets me use a fiber washer and look like an original without worrying about shorts. I also use points from NAPA made by standard. They still make the best points out there and only cost a couple of dollars per set. The modern condenser can be installed on the upper plate or on the coil on the switch side.
 
Thanks. The car had the modern points when i got it. It ran fine the first two yrs but after I did my ''poor-man'' restoration with new paint and wires the points or cond don't seem to last. It runs out great for a while. Dont have the dummy condenser...maybe thats the problem ? If all else fells I can aways put the org set-up back in.
 
I have three distributors - two with modern, one 'original'.

Got all the modern points/condenser from NAPA (sorry can't remember the part number.)

Why three distributors? Because I had them in a box of parts I bought at a swap meet, and wanted to figure out how to rebuild them.

My dad used modern on his A without any problems, so I went with modern.

Each one works fine (they all have about 100 miles on them.) I carry them, just in case I have a problem. It's easy to swap out the distributor.
 
I tried running the so called modern points for at least three years. Sometimes I would get a few months use out of them and then they would just quit for no visable reason. The rubbing blocks never wore that much before they would quit working. It would be like they were trying to short to the distributor houseing. I could replace the points and it would work for a while and then quit again with no warning, just like cutting off the switch. One day the AA (uncle Albert) that I use to have, quit in the road in a bad place where there was nowhere to pull over. It was too big and heavy for me to be able to push by hand like I could my other A's I had to have it towed because I couldn't work on it in the busy roadway.

At the time that I tried to use modern points (early ninties) They were all the rage and the pressure was on to use them. The first question was are you running modern points.

I have never seen any advantage to them. There is no improvement whatsoever. They are difficult to adjust and I don't mind saying that I HATE them. If I had to use them, I would just as soon not even have a model A .
.
 
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I have a list of all the modern part numbers (NAPA) for most of the electrical parts in the Model A. If you would like can send it to you in a Word document format. Send me an email at jrelliott42@gmail.com. Also have a listing of all the bulbs both 6V and 12V and their candlepower that I send along for info.
If you are using the newer upper and lower plates that use the brass slider connecting the two. Throw the brass parts away and replace with a wire like used originally as this is a big source of problems JMHO.
 
I had great success with late Ford points, maybe I happened to get a good brand. I liked them because they burned very CLEAN, just leaving a circular silvery contact pattern on the solid contact point. NEVER had to file them, ever!! They seem to never pit out like solid contact points.
Original idea was that the point of electrical contact alternated around the circular area as resistance varied with temperature changes around that same circle, always firing in a different spot!
ANYHOW, that's what they told us when that "HOLLOW POINT" design first came out.
Like Henry said, "DON'T BUY GYP BRANDS!" ( My points came from Sacramento Vintage Ford, don't know the brand. ) Bill W. Also, I don't use the wireless lower plate, they're just a failure lookin' for a time to happen!
 
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Jim, I have a set of points and con. the box is marked (Automotive Parts cp-92) they will fir the modela dist. Anyone know anything about them?
 
I'm having trouble with modern condensoes. Two failures in 100 milres, yesterday I bought one from NAPa. They said it is a "premium" condensor but the box says made in mexico. I'm skeptical.
 
Back in the late 80's when I first got into Model A's I used the original style points and condensors. The problem, and it was a BIG one IMO, was that the original style points and condensors that the vendors were selling were made in china and, even worse, India. Several times these would go bad before you could drive out of the driveway and for sure would not last 100 miles in the summer heat. Then the so called "modern" V-8 points came out with USA parts. The problem with the first sets was that the holes in the plate were slightly off and caused problems with point alignment during installation. Later versions are much better. I have used the "modern" points and condensers in all of my Model A's for the last twenty years and thousands of miles with zero ignition failures. For that reason I would say either original or modern is OK to use with routine care. You can get original or modern Motorcraft parts from most of the vendors but Motorcraft are about 3 times the price of other brands that they sell.
 
I've been running the same original style points that I got from Brattons in 2000. Never one minutes problem and Deb can even adjust them. I do remember the bad points from Ricks in the seventies that wouldn't match up.
 
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