1954 Capacitor Information/Education

[John L.]

Well I need a little help in understanding the capacitors that are found attached to the voltage regulator and ignition shield.

Do these typically go bad? How are they tested? Have not seen any sources for purchasing new ones so i assume they are hard to come by.

Any good pointers would be appreciated. Mine seem to be ok except one that has one of the ends a a cockeyed or bent but not loose by any means. My car was not running when I purchased it so not sure if they were functional to begin with.
Any helpful advice is much appreicated.
Thanks,
John Lanning

[William C.]

Re: 1954 Capacitor Information/Education

OK, since no one has jumped in, I'll give you a little help. They are there to allow the Radio to work better by reducing the interference in the radio caused by the arcing of points and sparkplugs during normal engine operation. You can test them with an ohmmeter checking for continuity of each wire with an ohmmeter and precluding any open circuits. Generally a resistance on used wires that is about 5000-7000 ohms per foot of length or less will work satisfactorily.

[Joe R.]

Re: 1954 Capacitor Information/Education

Well I need a little help in understanding the capacitors that are found attached to the voltage regulator and ignition shield.

Do these typically go bad? How are they tested? Have not seen any sources for purchasing new ones so i assume they are hard to come by.

Any good pointers would be appreciated. Mine seem to be ok except one that has one of the ends a a cockeyed or bent but not loose by any means. My car was not running when I purchased it so not sure if they were functional to begin with.
Any helpful advice is much appreicated.
Thanks,
John Lanning

John,

Does your car have a radio? I'm a C2 guy, but I'll take stab at it. I think those capacitors are there to reduce the EMI emitted by your car, since it does not have a metal body (Faraday cage). In other words, the caps are there to reduce interference to other cars. I'm not sure I would bother testing the caps. To test the caps, disconnect one or both leads from the circuit. Otherwise, your measurements will be influenced by other components in the circuit. Use the capacitance function on a Digital Multi-Meter to see if it's in the ballpark or even close. I would say within +/- 50 % is close enough for government work. If your meter does not have the cap function, put it in Ohms, then touch the meter leads to the capacitor. Assuming the cap was discharged before you did this test, the ohmmeter should show low resistance at first, with resistance rising towards infinity the longer the test leads are connected to it. Short the capacitor leads to discharge it.

Joe

[John L.]

Re: 1954 Capacitor Information/Education

Joe & Bill,
Sorry have been away for a while and not able to respond...thanks for the guidance. Have a good Chevy Buddy that is deep into electronics so we are going to have a little fun here. Well he will - this part is a bit out of my realhm of knowledge but maybe I'll learn a little something.
Thanks and if anything comes about from this will post it.
Appreciate the input!
John Lanning

[Troy P.]

Re: 1954 Capacitor Information/Education

I do the replating and restamping. All out of replacements though. Just sold my last NOS one recently. Have correct new fillester head screws too.