Technical Condenser

Is there any particular condenser I should use with my 8ba distributor that might be able to boost performance. But more importantly. Look good. Haha. It’s a dual point conversion distributor.


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

I hope you find a condenser that works .... if you need 2, then buy 6.

 

Doesn't the H.A.M.B.'s very own @tubman offer those?

 

With a dual point conversion to an 8BA distributor, there is no room to mount the condenser inside the distributor; hence it must be mounted on the outside of the distributor. In my opinion, nothing looks worse than a "wimpy" looking regular old condenser (which may or not be of good quality) hanging off of a distributor in a vintage car. Check this out :


(This is an Olds "Rocket" distributor with a Mallory dual point conversion.)

 

Ask Jim Linder aka Bubba

 

@tubman are you selling those condensers? or am I mixing you up with someone else

 

Yep that's me. $60 with $8 shipping on eBay. $50 plus shipping to Alliance members.

 

good to know, thanks.

 

I’ve been looking for one of those condensers. But I can’t find one cheap anywhere. Does anyone have a used one they could sell to me?


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

I thought he did. That's why I pinged him.

 

If it's an original it may likely be spent by now. If you want it to look good, that's one thing. You can buy a modern high voltage film capacitor for about 5 bucks, but it won't look good.

 

You used to be able to find decent ones on eBay, but the last several years, every one I looked at was split open. Most will test OK, but with a split case and less than ideal underhood conditions, you're asking for trouble. A year or so ago, "Bubba" posted that he was able to score a case of NOS Mallory brass condensers in the original boxes. I believe that every one of them was split. That's when I started making my own.

Also, Yes, you can buy modern film capacitors with the proper value (.22 to .33 micro-farads). There are many more variables however, and we had a lot of trouble finding examples that were robust enough for our purposes. You have to consider the rated temperature (at least 400 F) and something called "dv/dt" (delta voltage vs delta time). This is a rating the basically tells you how fast a capacitor can be cycled before it breaks down. Unfortunately, the distributors rarely publish this figure and often don't even know it themselves. We had to figure it out by trial and error. The problem is that the capacitors that are tough enough are also large (especially the .33 micro-farad units) and expensive, especially after the recent tariff increases.

I have picked up a few un-split NOS inits both in the original boxes and by themselves that I would part with. However, I will have to get around $75 each for them and they come with no warranty at all, while our new units come with a 1 year warranty.

 

Here is mine I recently purchased from Tubman. (Denny)
Looks awesome!

 

Tubman, how does one go about purchasing one of your condensors - I have a Mallory YB287AX dizzy. Wouldn't mind finding points (24205) and rotor (24215), as well. Thx.

 

Calling @tubman , see prior post, above. Thanks.

 

I have used a common Chevt V8 Delco condensor in a number of 6 and 12 volt vehicles, dual and single points, motorcycles, tractors etc. Always fixed the problem if the problem was a bad condensor.

 

PM me, here or on the "Ford Barn". If that doesn't work you can email at "[email protected]". I have just finished a fresh batch.

I am in Florida for the winter, so I am away from my shop and references, but I know that Echlin (available at NAPA) has some replacements available for most Mallory points (I have to believe that Mallory used commonly available points in their distributors, rather than developing a propriety solution). The same may be true for rotors. I know that caps for the Mallory's used to be available from NAPA.

"Google" may be your friend here.