New Crab Caps - Issue

tombarb33 said:
I agree it's frustrating that "New" parts need to be repaired before they work. That being said, I don't think the rotor/cap gap is super critical as long as there is plenty of clearance to prevent interference. Also, the rotor/cap indexing would need to be outside the width of the rotor/cap contacts to cause a problem, like maybe 1/8th inch from center. Bubba might want to address this subject regarding what the limits are.
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Amen!!! You got it figured out , the air gap at the rotor is not super critical, however it should be fairly equal.
Over the years the oems have played around with this gap mainly in the name of emissions. As a emission noise reducer they tightened up this gap to the point that the resitance went down so much that the car wouldnt start cold ( coil wouldnt increase the voltage etc) and they had to actually open up this gap to make the coil increase the output voltage......
 
Re: New Crab Caps - Issue JM

JM 35 Sedan said:
Read this post....

http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=125183
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John the gasket does not go betweenthe inner plate and the dist. It goes between the inner contact plate and the outer cover so has no affect on how far the inner plate goes in.Thats governed by the body. step groove in the dist.I check all dist before they go out. Of course when I sell a cap by it self I have no way of knowing if it will fit right on the customers dist.Ive fixed a few over the past 20 yrs and I think 1 came back with a broken rotor course I fixed n/c. I use Borge-Warner caps USA. an rotors from them also?? ken ct.
 
Re: New Crab Caps - Issue JM

ken ct said:
John the gasket does not go betweenthe inner plate and the dist. It goes between the inner contact plate and the outer cover so has no affect on how far the inner plate goes in.Thats governed by the body. step groove in the dist.I check all dist before they go out. Of course when I sell a cap by it self I have no way of knowing if it will fit right on the customers dist.Ive fixed a few over the past 20 yrs and I think 1 came back with a broken rotor course I fixed n/c. I use Borge-Warner caps USA. an rotors from them also?? ken ct.
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Ken ,
Borg Warner is Echlin in a Borg Warner box. Echlin / Dana is now owed by Standard Motor Products.
Got to really watch what comes out of the box as all three have cheap lines as well.:eek:
 
Ken, I was talking about a '42 crab distributor when I mentioned a gasket between cap and distributor. No inner plate on that one. I know on the early helmet distributors, '41 back to ?, the gaskets go between inner plates and outer caps. So you have a seal there as well as between the outer cap and distributor housing. Not familiar enough with '45-'48 rabbit ear distributors to know exactly where the gasket goes on those.
When you say you use Borg Warner caps and rotors, are you talking about the '42 crab style distributor and maybe the '45-'48 rabbit ear cap distributors??
 
Yea John,was referring to the helmets on that. 42 caps I use Borge-Warner which Bubba says is Eclin/Standard,didn't know that??. I use the helmet cap gasket trimmed a little on the 42 caps cause the skinny one supposedly made for the crab cap dosent fit worth a dammed. These fit great with a slight trimming around about 1/2 of the helmet gasket. Don't know what I was thinking on that one,think im loseing it. ken ct.
 
Ken, an easy mistake to make since I was talking about a '35 helmet distributor at the beginning of that post and then switched to talking about a '42 crab distributor. I love working on these old Ford distributors as fun projects. Not interested in building as many as you and Bubba do :).
 
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