Original Style Distributor

D

Dkrahn

Member
Ok, so I have a '29 pickup and it has an occasional backfire out the exhaust. I have replaced the head, rebuilt the carburator and no change. I am thinking I have more or less pinpointed the issue down to the condenser. I have original distributor and the condenser slides in the side. I replaced the condenser with a brand new one and the pickup wouldn't even start. So I thought ok, defective condenser.
I get to looking at things and I see at the end of the condenser there are threads. That tells me something screws in there. I go online and see where there is a copper screw and a fiber washer that can be purchased for that location. And it tells me that gets connected to the lower plate in the distributor. Now before I go and pull the distributor and install those 50 cent parts, I was hoping for a drawing to show me what and how the lower plate connects to that copper screw and fiber washer.
Any body have some drawings or written instructions that are clear for me to try this fix?
Dean
 
Yes I see that picture. It basically shows the condenser slides in and there is an screw -item #12 - that screws in the end of the condenser. I know there is a copper screw and fiber washer that screw in there https://www.brattons.com/searchprods.asp (second row down). Im looking to see how and where is that screw bolted to the lower plate. Mine just slides into the hole in the side of the distributor, and no copper screw on the end.
 
Thank you GPierce. The issue I am trying to solve is "I have no screw in the end of the condenser"...And I can buy one but I am trying to understand how is that screw connected to the lower plate.
 
The screw goes through the hole in the lower plate and into the end of the condenser. Here is a picture Marco posted.
 

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Are you sure you don't have a second (modern) condenser mounted to the upper plate of the distributor. If so, you may also have a modern lower plate that is missing a sheet metal connector to the "bus bar" that feeds electric connection to the lower plate. There are some of these modern lower plates that were made this way to avoid someone hooking up an original type condenser into the electrical system. If this is the case, your original style condenser is only a "dummy" and just in place to make things look original.
 
Pics of your distributor showing the upper and lower plates would help us understand what you have.
 
Here's a picture (from Brattons) of the lower plate ***'y. Underneath, to the left one can see the hole that the condensor connects to.
 

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Yes, and that is what I have. I just pulled the distributor all apart and it appears that everything is there, I just need the bolt and washer. The condenser was touching the tab underneath, so the pickup was running. It just wasn't bolted to the plate.
 

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Last edited:
I have read on this forum that there are a few things to watch out for when assembling the distributor to help prevent internal shorts.

One possible short is that "flag" connector that is fixed to the lower plate. It needs to be bent like the one in the image above to prevent grounding to the distributor body.

Another is that the screw that you are missing, the one that goes into the condenser itself, needs to be the correct length or it may penetrate the condenser and short it internally. The fiber washer is also necessary to help keep the screw from going in too far.

The last one that I'm aware of involves the spring loaded screw-in connector for the cable from the ignition switch. It only needs to be screwed in a few turns to keep it secure. If you screw it in all the way you risk distorting the internal connector and possibly causing a short.

Here is a video by one of the frequent posters here that explains much of this internal shorting of the distributor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKZwX0klifI

There may be other suggestions...Good Luck!



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