A Comment on Points and Condensor

[Paul L.]

I bought a 1974 convertible last winter and it arrived in Canada early April from TN. Not NCRS material but a pretty car with a spanking new Haartz canvas top. Very nice.

I have driven a 1979 L-82 with HEI and a 1967 coupe with a Pertronix I system. They work very well so I thought I would convert the 1974 to a more "modern" Pertronix II system. I have one in basement inventory. But then I thought why not try the "old" and see what happens? So I replaced the spark plugs (44s, fouled, too cold perhaps, bad Q-Jet, now replaced with NAPA rebuilt #70044202) with Delco R45TS and dropped by NAPA to get Echlin points and condensor. Dusted off the old dwell tachometer and Sears dial timing light and away you go.

I have heard it here before: these old cars can run perfectly well on old technology. And the 1974 does! I did 120 miles today at city and highway speeds and the darn thing purred. Not a hint of missing, etc. So the Pertronix will stay in basement inventory.

Just a pic for you. The St. Lawrence Seaway between Ontario, Canada and New York State.

[Barry K.]

Re: A Comment on Points and Condensor

Hi Paul!

yep, points are just fine, and the good part about them is they won't suddenly die on you leaving you stranded on the side of the road like the electronic conversion kits can.

But be careful...... that extra 5 minutes, once a year, in the spring after you pull the car out of your winter storage to check dwell is awfully time consuming!

[Paul L.]

Re: A Comment on Points and Condensor

Barry,

Good to hear from you. I don't think the local GM dealer knows how to use one of these devices.

The 1967 is going back to the USA in a week or two. Sad, but no regrets, a personal decision. I enjoyed it for five years of its life.

But I feel no shame in driving the 1974.

[Martin N.]

Re: A Comment on Points and Condensor

PAUL-

I could'nt agree with you more. I was thinking of going the Pertronix route myself in my 1974 L-48 after discussions here on this board and many other sites but failed (hesitated) to ever make the switch, I'm glad I stay stock. I while back I purchased 3 sets of Delco points and condensors on E-Bay and will have may a year supply. Now if I could find a good source for INEXPENSIVE dist. wick's I'd be set. By the way, VERY nice ride.

Marty

[Paul L.]

Re: A Comment on Points and Condensor

Thanks Marty,

I bought Echlin/NAPA based on advice from here and the fellow in Colorado (Lars). I keep a spare set in the rear compartment. Not sure I understand the comment re wicks? Just little fabric thingies?

[Martin N.]

Re: A Comment on Points and Condensor

PAUL-

The dist. wick is the little plastic stand that has a round sponge attached to it and it sits inside the dist and is positioned up against the point cam (main dist. shaft) to lubricate the shaft so the points rubbing block does not wear out as quickly. If you look at a Paragon catalog it shows a picture of what it looks like in there. They what $10.00 for that stupid little thing. I've been using a dab of paste lubericant on the inside of the points rubbing block as a lube. Did you get a little tube (looks like a pill / capsule) with your Echlin points? That's the lube I'm talking about. By the way the Delco points number is D-106P if you ever see them.

Marty

[Paul L.]

Re: A Comment on Points and Condensor

Yes, I got the little tube of paste and used that on the rubbing block. I thought that was adequate.

[Tom M.]

Re: A Comment on Points and Condensor

Paul,

I assume the weather held out for you this year, a couple of us were planning on going up untill we heard the weather report.

Tom M

[Stuart F.]

Re: A Comment on Points and Condensor

Nice looking car, that 74. I'm a Petronix II man myself. I got sick and tired of loosing plugs each time I got caught up in heat and traffic when I had points. But then, my 63 has 11.25 to 1 advertised compression ratio and it, along with all the SHP Chevys I've owned, are natural plug eaters. But then, if you don't care if your engine will make red line, points are fine. Me, I want it to make it's full potential on demand and points will not do it. I learned this with SHP Chevy V8's over 53 years. Only electronic Ignitions will give you consistent high RPM performance under all conditions. Points, as soon as they wear a little, will fail to do that. They are too frail.

Stu Fox

[Steven B.]

Re: A Comment on Points and Condensor

'And there is point bounce----

[Duke W.]

Re: A Comment on Points and Condensor

My single point Delco distributor revs to over 6500 on the engine and over 7000 on a distributor test machine.

It's all about "blueprinting" and using the high breaker arm tension points on mechanical lifter engines.

Don't ask... I've explained it a zillion times.

One of the beauties of vintage cars is that they don't have any "black boxes" to suddenly to tango uniform. You can troubleshoot the whole electrical system with a ten dollar VOM.

Points rarely fail without warning, and it's easy to keep a spare used set and a screwdriver in the car if you ever need an emergency set.

I grew up with "simple" cars. Sure, they needed a minor tuneup once or twice a year if you were fastidious, and everyone had a dwell meter and timing light. Overall they were quite reliable, and SIMPLE, and most car guys could do emergency repairs if needed.

On today's cars about your only choice if they quit is to call a tow truck.

The only thing that's ever stranded a car I own is some electronic module that quit without warning!

Duke

[Stuart F.]

Re: A Comment on Points and Condensor

How about going through a water puddle with a front mounted distributor, i.e. Ford. In the old points days, if you say a car stalled on the other side of an underpass with a little water in it, it was a Ford.

Stu Fox

On the points vs. Electronic Ignition, it's just a matter of choice and what works best for you. I've been at peace since I went electronic. Changing plugs on a 63 is a bear, what with all that shielding, and now I go so long between needed changes I forget how to do it.

[Barry K.]

Re: A Comment on Points and Condensor

But then, if you don't care if your engine will make red line, points are fine.

i'll have to disagree.
my '65 has the original L76 motor, original distributor, etc. I use the NAPA CS786 points in it. Redline on the car is 6500rpm. I've had it up past 7500rpm (not sure how far past that since the tach was completely pegged out and buried at it's limit) with the motor still pulling strong and hard and not a bit of miss or break-up from points float.
MANY, MANY times when driving the car I am shifting at redline and the points work perfectly fine with no issues.
My motor still has the original 30-30 cam in it and if you have driven that motor / cam you know that it's a complete dog below 3200-3500rpm until the cam comes on into the torque range (even with the 4.11 gears I have) so you need to drive that motor kinda hard, and keep it in the upper rpm range even during normal driving. The "normal" rpm range for driving the car with that cam if you want any power available at all is 3500 - redline so believe me if points didn't cut it i would have tossed them out long ago but points are NOT a limiting factor in performance on the car.

[Stuart F.]

Re: A Comment on Points and Condensor

Barry;

So you have to disagree, hey? As we used to say in the old days; "Bring it around!"

Stu Fox

[Joe L.]

Re: A Comment on Points and Condensor

One of the problems with using a points-type distributor is the fact that the distributor cam inevitably wears, more so when using high spring tension breaker points. Having a properly maintained "wick" lubricator, reduces wear, but it does not eliminate it. Many distributor cams are already significantly worn. Since GM discontinued these about 20 years ago, having a worn cam could be a problem. Using a Breakerless or Petronix unit eliminates the cam from the system so, if one has a badly worn cam and no replacement, using the electronic conversions is a "way around the problem".

Good news now, though. I understand that reproductions of these cams are now available. So, maintaining a points type distributor in original configuration just got easier.