Hot Rods Mallory dual point distributor - They work very well !

Hello folks ,

There seems to be a lot of people that don’t understand point’s distributors,,,or are afraid of them for some reason.
There is nothing wrong with electronic,,,,,,many are perfectly reliable,,,,the factory versions that is .
However , it amazes me that people who are supposed to be devoted to the old stuff can’t bring themselves to use it .
Yes,,,,parts quality and availability , can be a daunting challenge,,,,but I don’t really think it is the major factor .
Most people just don’t want to take the time to get to understand the equipment.
Points distributors are really simple,,,,and not expensive to use and maintain .
Come along on my journey please,,,,,it was fun ,,,,,and worked great !


Okay,,,,, I purchased this unit a few years ago,,,,I found it online .
I think I gave 35 bucks for it,,,,it needed some attention ,,but it was overall pretty good.

From the first pic,,,you can see it was very dirty,,,mostly from sitting for years somewhere on a shelf I guess . I received it without a cap or rotor,,,,,but it was still worth the money .
It had a few issues ,,,a bent strap for the cap,,,,,and mostly a patina of surface rust and dirty grime that had gathered on it .



Either way,,,I knew that it would turn out great with a little attention .
These units are very well built and last a long time with a little service and maintenance .

Tommy

 

Had a Mallory dual point in an O/T car. 2 days after warranty ran out on it my car quit. I didn't know what happened but had a feeling it was some weird thing & called a professional friend. After a couple days he called me and said it like to drove him nuts. Eventually he discovered that the points plate stud had somehow sheared off....

 

Here is the next progress in the units return to glory .

After disassembly and cleaning,,,it was good to see it was in excellent condition and ready for the job ahead .
I cleaned it in a sink of hot water and Dawn detergent,,,,I used a green Scotchbrite pad and got all the surface rust and general crap removed from the unit.
I was very pleased to find no wear in the bushings and the unit was definitely a low hour unit .
After reassembly,,,,here are the results .

Tommy

 

The factory condenser was in terrible condition,,,,looks wise .
I decided to replace it with a brand new piece I bought from Tubman here on the Hamb .
His units are beautiful,,,,and work great !

I kept the old unit though,,,,,I’m sure it’s still good and I can always clean it later on if I need it for another application .



I purchased the new condenser several years ago,,,,I just knew I would need it someday !
I’m certain it will last a long time .

Tommy

 

I ran one in my old roadster since it was built in the 80’s. Never any problems. Filed and reset the points once. Still going as far as I know.
If I can ever get back on my 330 Desoto powered 40 pickup, it is getting one.
Also have one for the SBC that I’m putting in the 40 coupe.
Guess I’m a believer. Having NOS replacement parts set back helps.

 

Okay,,,,,the worst part on the unit was the straps for the cap,,,they looked like crap .
One was bent badly,,,,and both of them had rust on them,,,,looked really bad !
I straightened it back correctly,,,,and used a 90 degree sander with a Scotchbrite pad to clean off the funk .
After a repaint,,and letting them cure they turned out better than I had hoped for.
Here are the pieces before,,and after .

Tommy

 

My 2 cents. New Joe hunt H E I magneto look alike. 241 hemi. Extremly weak spark, would not start. Sent to Hunt. Made 168 miles. Left me stranded. Sent to Hunt. Made 4 miles. Left me stranded. Installed Mallory electronic. Before all this I had purchased another Hunt for my Y-block. 1st time starting dist was smoking. This time they wanted to charge over $200.00. I think I paid them half. I sold the dist for $400.00 with the understanding the buyer would send it to Bubba to retrofit. Mallory electronic on one of my rebuilt flatheads. Would not start. Buyer installed a stock dist. Happy with it. Crab point dist on my 27. Crab point dist on a TROG engine I built. Both performing fine.

 

Thanks Desoto291Hemi.
Need more of this type hype.
Jim Linder would approve.
A nod to Tubman, A champion performance realist

 

And now the results that I was hoping for,,,,I was hoping for a good looking unit that would perform well,,,I think I succeeded .
Altogether,,, I might have a couple of hours of honest work in this refurb .
A little money,,,,and some repairs,,,and it is good to go .
I had an almost new cap and rotor,,,,,with my other stash of distributor parts ,,,lol .
I think I have about 50 bucks in this,,,,,,35 for the original purchase,,and maybe 15 for the cap and rotor .
Oops,,,I forgot the Tubman condenser,,,I think it was 60 back then,,,,,still not a bad total .

Tommy

 

I'm curious if the new condenser will last I have a dual point on my 390 it would eat up condensers like candy bought two electronic conversion kits through one in the trunk no problems. I have a mallory dual point that I would like to keep points buy just don't trust the new crap now and buying nos is a gamble.

 

And now one more thing .

I have a video of the unit being run on a distributor machine .
It worked flawlessly,,,,,,the unit went to 3100 rpm,,,that’s equates to 6200 rpm running . The points are rated to 6500 ,, but I only asked him to check to 6000,,,,,no point bounce at 6200,,, so I’m sure they would be good to 6500 .
And it had 10 degrees of advance,,,,,20 at the crank,,,,,which is exactly what it was designed with ,,and the advance curve was just as predicted by the factory .
These units are very good,,,,,,any points distributor that is,,,,if it’s maintained and not worn out .
A friend of mine on here did the run for me and made the video,,,,I’ll have to get him to load it,,,,I’m not terribly computer savvy,,,,lol .

This guy is a great guy,, and is someone most on here listen to and admire .
There are a handful on here that I pay attention to everything they say,,,,because,,,,more times than not they are correct .

Mark Moriarity,,,,,distributor tech guy,,,,,Sun machine owner ,,,,,great guy !
When you get time,,,,load the video please,,,I’ve watched it a dozen times already.
I think the others will enjoy it too .

Tommy

 

They work very well indeed. My favorite are the Mallory Double Life distributors. They are probably the best distributors ever made. They are very well built, very reliable, easy to adjust and maintain. They look neat and if they crap out on the side of the road, just a match book cover and a finger nail file will usually get you going again.

 

@Desoto291Hemi I like the old distributors too. My old New Yorker had a dual point distributor from the factory, and it's still doing what it was designed to do.
Make sure you oil it regularly through that spring loaded ball bearing on the side of the distributor. It's called a ball oiler, and there are special oil can tips designed for them. If you have an old lathe or mill you probably already have the correct oil can.

 

Where did you find the points?

 

Yep, just like it was designed to do. This is why my hotrods run points distributors...they just work, and are easily repairable with simple diagnosis.

 

Oh yes,,,,, another detail I omitted from the thread .
This unit is going into my 291 DeSoto .

The distributor is for a small block Mopar,,,,but I modified my intermediate shaft so it would fit my DeSoto .
Hot Heads sells a replacement shaft that fits higher up in the intermediate gear .
Otherwise,,the small block unit will not work because the end shaft is a different length .
I have already trial fitted the unit and it fits great,,,thanks Hot Heads,,,,,Desoto distributors are hard to find sometimes .

My whole point with this thread was to show that the old stuff still works .
Points are very dependable and last for years when correct and using good components .

Tommy

 

They are the same ones that were in it ,,,,they were dirty,,,but no marks on the contacts .
They were in excellent shape,,,,,just needed the film cleaned off from sitting .
As long as they are good,,,,old doesn’t matter .

Tommy

 

Thanks, for the nod, Tommy. As to the longevity of my condensers. I have sold more than 500 of them over the last 7 years and have only had one comeback. I sent the guy a replacement that ran perfectly for him. We tested the returned unit, and it looked fine. The only thing I could think of was to replace the condenser on the Mallory in my car (1951 Ford) with the returned unit. I have been running it for over 3 years now with no problems. I have no idea what happened. (Perhaps it was a "test".)

I have to agree about the Mallory dual points, I am running them in a couple of flatheads, two early hemi's, and an Olds Rocket. One thing I would say that they are best set using a dwell meter than by setting the point gap (although that will work). Block one set open with a piece of thin cardboard and set the dwell to spec. Then block the other set of points open and set the first set. Then remove the cardboard and check total dwell.

I have been buying used Mallory's (if the price is right) for a long time. I don't care about the application (big block Mopar's and Pontiacs seem to be available), as I use them mainly for parts. There are two types of flat caps and rotors, so don't mix them up, although both types will fit all distributors. I have a list of equivalent point sets somewhere which I'll try to find. I have been able to source a lot of Mallory points from NAPA. Condensers? Well, that's why I started making them. Nothing looks worse on the outside of a Mallory dual point than an ordinary old condenser from your FLAPS.

Another tip : Flathead versions are getting scarce and expensive. Chevrolet units are a lot easier to find and cheaper. Send one to Charlie Schwendler in News York and have it converted for use in an 8BA.

 

I have a flat cap dual point Mallory for the big block in my Chrysler, need to run it on the distributor machine one of these days.

 

New automotive replacement condensers usually work, some don't. I've used an electronics condenser (called a capacitor in the trade) rated at 0.22 uF and 1000 V with great success...it is not in a metal can, you have to ground one lead and connect the other to the points. Places like digikey and Mouser sell them.

I almost always use the old points, after filing them carefully.

 

I have a ‘63 LeMans that started to act up last driving season. Wouldn’t idle in gear. I had just rebuilt the carburetor, and it turned out clean internally still on inspection. Figured vacuum leak. Nope nothing 2 cans of carb cleaner and even my buddies smoke machine could find. Finally I pulled the distributor and found the previous owner had converted from points to a Pertronix ignition.
I sent it in to a distributor rebuilder I had used in the past, so he could restore it back to original and convert back to points. I dropped it in and changed back to the original type coil and it runs great now. You wouldn’t believe the amount of flack I heard from buddies and on my car websites for going back to “outdated technology “.
I once had a OT car on the dyno to have the carb tuned and dialed in. The MSD box took a shit in the middle of the session. The shop calls and said they bypassed it so they could continue dialing in the carb. I asked what the power difference was between before and after the MSD crapped out.
They said “None, it idles a little rougher ( big cammed engine) but no difference in HP”. I never did go back to using that MSD.
I didn’t install either of these items above. Previous owners in search of imaginary HP or too lazy to set points, I dunno. My 3 old cars are now 100% points ignition.

 

Great info,
Can these capacitors just be mounted using a clamp similar to the standard ones?
Cheers.

 

sure, although you can get away with just letting it hang from it's wires, for a long time.

 

I've used Mallory dual points in my six banger nostalgia drag racers for a long long time. One is a six-lobe dual point and the other is a 3-lobe Dual Life. K.I.S.S is a big reason. Traditional looking is another. You can still get points for them (my Ford, at least).

 

Really nice

 

The parallell dual points are meant to handle more current without getting burned quickly, right? A way to get more power to the ignition coil, and the resulting more powerful spark.

 

I've used a few different ignition systems thru the years and I far prefer the seat of the pants feel of a dual point over a pertronix any day of the week.

Here a while back I converted a 65 gto to dual point thru the use of a Mr. Gasket plate kit (my favorite way to dual point) and it ran great, then the guy decided to go to pertronix, tried to talk him out of it but it just didn't have the low grunt the dual point had, even to 5800 rpm.

On an older motor dual points is the only way to go.....

...

 

When you use a point type distributor and a MSD the points only triggers the MSD and should last far longer plus you only use one set of points.

 

My understanding from a lifetime ago was that the staggered dual points allowed a longer coil saturation time, especially at hi rpm’s. Coil fires only when the second set of points open.

Anybody? Do I ‘member correctly.

Just picked one of these Mallory units up at Carlisle for my wife’s 302 Windsor.

Love my MSD in my flathead 53 PU though, Engine seldom above three grand an probly never above 3500. Runs like a top.