Brown Distributor cap ?

[Bill W.]

I was just reading Duke Williams post on TI Ign. and he mentioned the "brown dist. cap" He said he thought it could have came on all TI cars . I have two one came off my 31,000 mile 396 and one off of a 396 removed at one year old . My car #17346 is a no radio car so it would not have had braided wires but could it have had a brown cap. Bill

[Duke W.]

Re: Brown Distributor cap ?

Nope! I thought that once, but was wrong. It had limited applications - L-88/ZL1, and you say maybe L-78. It may have also been used on LT-1s, when TI was required. There was a thread about utilization years ago, but I forgot some of the details.

This dark brown cap also has copper rather than aluminum terminals. It's a rare piece and probably worth big bucks in NOS or excellent used condition.

The Delco CD ignition used a red cap. That one is probably ever rarer because the CD system was not in production as long as the TI system and likely had fewer installations. Chevrolet never offered the CD system, but Olds and IIRC Pontiac. I'm not sure about Buick

Duke

[Joe L.]

Re: Brown Distributor cap ?

Nope! I thought that once, but was wrong. It had limited applications - L-88/ZL1, and you say maybe L-78. It may have also been used on LT-1s, when TI was required. There was a thread about utilization years ago, but I forgot some of the details.

This dark brown cap also has copper rather than aluminum terminals. It's a rare piece and probably worth big bucks in NOS or excellent used condition.

The Delco CD ignition used a red cap. That one is probably ever rarer because the CD system was not in production as long as the TI system and likely had fewer installations. Chevrolet never offered the CD system, but Olds and IIRC Pontiac. I'm not sure about Buick

Duke

Duke------


The GM #800061, aka Delco D-309R, was among the distributor caps which were made of a brown plastic material. As you say, these also have copper contacts. However, not all GM #800061 are manufactured using the brown material. I've seen both black and brown but either have the copper contacts. In fact, in the old days whenever I'd buy this cap, I didn't know which color material it was going to be made from. However, I do remember that the FIRST one I bought (probably about 1970 or 71) was BROWN. I've never seen a brown cap with aluminum contacts, though.

Other Delco caps may also have been made from the brown material

[Larry M.]

Re: Brown Distributor cap ?

I believe that the brown caps were made from a special alkyd resin with very high dielectric properties. I can remember ACCEL claiming that their early distributor caps were also made with this resin to provide superior performance to OEM black Bakelite caps.

Larry

[Joe L.]

Re: Brown Distributor cap ?

I believe that the brown caps were made from a special alkyd resin with very high dielectric properties. I can remember ACCEL claiming that their early distributor caps were also made with this resin to provide superior performance to OEM black Bakelite caps.

Larry

Larry------


Yes, I've heard the exact same thing. However, I started to doubt it when I found that distributor caps of the exact same GM part number (GM #800061) were made with both brown and black plastic.

[Richard M.]

Re: Brown Distributor cap ?

This cap came on a used but near perfect 1111258 TI distributor, dated "6 J 12", I bought from a fellow member via the Driveline several years ago.

It appears black in the photo but it's a very dark brown when compared to a black cap. However, it has aluminum contacts. ........Rich


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[Wayne M.]

Re: Brown Distributor cap ?

Here's an aside: Colvin's Chev-by-the-Numbers '65-69; page 236 (top).

GM Engineering Dwg of distrib 1111240 ('67 L88). in large lettering "CAP MATERIAL -- BLACK", with a revision record reference which shows this note was added to the drawing on "(unreadable day)-1-74", with the reason "Black was Brown". So this distrib must have been still being produced for service at that time.

Same distr, same page (bottom).
Dwg note pointing to cap: "800061, Cap & Latch Assy". (revision reference) reason: "800061 Cap & Latch assy. was 1942654"

The P&A catalogs from that era ('65- Oct '67) show the 1942654 services all V8's; no 800061 mentioned until sometime later in '68, as it appears in July '69 revision, along with the earlier 1942654, both listed as for "All, Corvette 8 Cyl.".

[Joe L.]

Re: Brown Distributor cap ?

Here's an aside: Colvin's Chev-by-the-Numbers '65-69; page 236 (top).

GM Engineering Dwg of distrib 1111240 ('67 L88). in large lettering "CAP MATERIAL -- BLACK", with a revision record reference which shows this note was added to the drawing on "(unreadable day)-1-74", with the reason "Black was Brown". So this distrib must have been still being produced for service at that time.

Same distr, same page (bottom).
Dwg note pointing to cap: "800061, Cap & Latch Assy". (revision reference) reason: "800061 Cap & Latch assy. was 1942654"

The P&A catalogs from that era ('65- Oct '67) show the 1942654 services all V8's; no 800061 mentioned until sometime later in '68, as it appears in July '69 revision, along with the earlier 1942654, both listed as for "All, Corvette 8 Cyl.".

Wayne-----


The GM #800061 was an "R" cap. I believe the GM #1942654 was the "non-R" equivalent. The "R" caps were first used for the 1969 model year so that's why they first appear in late 1968 P&A catalogs. The 1942654 was discontinued from SERVICE in October, 1969 and replaced by the 800061.

[Keith B.]

Re: Brown Distributor cap ?

is this cap to any thing speical