Ordering a Distributor Cap/Rotor, best one?

KCTA Chris

KCTA Chris

Senior Member
Ok. It's parts time.
I burned out a 6V converted halogen bulb and can't find one locally so while I was placing my vendor order thought I'd grab a new rotor and cap too.

This board has a lot of "Well you should have ordered from..." or "Don't use those.." So before I spend my cash, who has good parts for my almost daily driver? Performance is more important to me than period correctness.

Thanks
 
Bratton's has quality parts. NAPA may have those also. I doubt there are multiple manufactures of model A Parts.
 
Model A parts Made In USA are the preference of most "A" owners. I just checked my Snyder's catalog and both items you are interested in are USA made. I do not have a 2018 catalog yet so this is last years. My Bratton's catalog is 2 years old and one of your items was then USA made, the other was not, but this is old info and the current catalog may be different. Some suppliers specialize in USA made products as far as possible, others do not.
 
I have found some repro rotors do not fit tightly in a quality Brattons cam,something to be aware of.
 
They are all probably made at the same place no matter who you buy it from. The secret is to make sure and adjust, the tip of the rotor spacing from each of the four contacts. They should be between .025 and .035 depending on who is telling the story. And they are usually not. If they are all less than .035 you can file each of the four contacts to get them even with each other at whatever value you desire. If any are more that .035 you have to somehow worry the tip of the rotor longer without breaking it.


Tom Endy
 
Tom is correct. While building distributors I noticed to my horror that they are made incorrectly in most cases. The contacts are spaced into the distributor bodies incorrectly, meaning that some contacts are very close and the ones on the other side of the cap are too far away from the rotor. I believe that there is a process of grinding off these contact points and that machine may be out of adjustment or the operator is just sloppy. Its easy to see this on these distributors because you can take the cap off and see how close the rotor gets to each of these contacts. Do yourself a favor and check these clearances. While you are at it make sure the top plate has no excess play and is tight enough to the center. What happens is when you pull the advance it changes the point gap. Get it all right and most of your Model A trouble ends.
 
Thanks guys! I dug out one original and ordered a "good" one. I'm defiantly going to check the clearances, good call and just wanting to avoid trouble before it arrises.

I used to look for the made in USA label and try to keep American, unfortunately we've seen bad parts here at home too. Sadly my attitude has changed to who builds the better part for the money.
 
The dizzy cap that is on my pickup came from Reiner’s Corner. 5,000 miles and still going strong.
 
For years the gaps were all over the place. Bratton's are fine now. Using a clear cap you can see the spark difference if the gaps are off.
Clem
 
The distributor bodies I bought from Bratton's and Little Dearborn were a nice snug fit to the cast iron body. I'm sure Snyder's and Bert's are the same good quality.
 
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