Dual point Dist question

[F4R/T]

KISS= keep it simple stupid! When the China brain box or pick up coil croaked and you need a hook and you don’t have cell service you will recall I used to have points.. A business card could have solved it all.. lol
If you run electronic buy oem or better non China made or it will bite you.. I’ve run a wrecker for decades and hauled them all..

 

[Darter6]

Loooong ago 1973-74 You know the first dark ages,Many new cars were brought in on the hook.
The Dodge Dealer owner would charge the factory.They got pissed and sent out the factory rep.
He told us to take a can of freon and blast the ECU.9 out of 10 times the car would fire right up and we could drive it back to the dealer. We had boxes and boxes of dead ones we had to keep and send back to Chrysler. Oh the good old days !

 

[F4R/T]

Duraspark system wasn’t any better nor was the hei module hiding under the Distrubutor cap up against the firewall.. lol.

 

[Cranky]

Man, did this thread take a huge left turn lol I hope the OP can get something from all of this to help him fix his problem....

 

[rustytoolss]

Thanks, but this is a factory long ram car The car was documented to be the one used at the chrysler auto shows for the 1960 model year ., so the dual point stays. Can someone just tell me it both sets of points will spark with the key on during cranking....If it were me I would install modern system also.

 

[Darter6]

Well at least he got to learn the how and why of Dual Points.
Don't tell anyone but the last car I built has points.. SHHHHHH !

 

[Cranky]

Thanks, but this is a factory long ram car The car was documented to be the one used at the chrysler auto shows for the 1960 model year ., so the dual point stays. Can someone just tell me it both sets of points will spark with the key on during cranking....If it were me I would install modern system also.

Never paid attention to points making sparks. Place a piece of cardboard between the leading set and see if the secondaries will....

 

[Pops1967GTX]

[URL]http://dave78chieftain.com/Dodge_Electron03.html
[/URL]


https://www.glenngoodspeed.com/volvo/POINTS.HTM

 

[AR67GTX]

When the big magnetic pulse hits and all the electronic things die, us old points guys will be the only thing running.

Except it will also probably kill the condenser and thus the spark. But yeah, setting up a dual point distributor was the first maintenance chore I learned back in 1968 and I still have two cars running dual points in them to keep me in practice. No reason for me to change.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Don't know if it's been covered exactly yet, lotta posts, only the set the breaks the connection sparks, the second set doesn't....

 

[rustytoolss]

Don't know if it's been covered exactly yet, lotta posts, only the set the breaks the connection sparks, the second set doesn't....

Let me get this right....only one set of point will spark right ? seems most people only want to tell what system they would use, maybe they don't know anything about dual point systems (I don't that's why I asked). I've worked on many single point systems/ just never a dual point system. Thanks 1 Wild R/T

 

[RJRENTON]

Don't know if it's been covered exactly yet, lotta posts, only the set the breaks the connection sparks, the second set doesn't....

YES.....one set of points "breaks" the primary coil current, which, when it opens, will cause arcing. The other set of points "makes" the coil primary coil current and will generally not arc, unless the capacitor is failing and not absorbing all of the coil's collapsing induced primary voltage, which can amount to 200+ volts, which when present can definitely cause arcing. This is why you should always consider ventilated poihts (the one with the hole in the stationary contact). (AND change the condenser when replaceing the points to minimize this arcing condition, due to condenser ageing) This hole allows for dissipation of the generated ozone gas and cooling of the arc, allowing it to dissipate. IMO....Standard Motor Products Blue Streak points have this feature plus the largest surface area which promotes long life.....something to consider....
BOB RENTON

 

[1 Wild R/T]

YES.....one set of points "breaks" the primary coil current, which, when it opens, will cause arcing. The other set of points "makes" the coil primary coil current and will generally not arc, unless the capacitor is failing and not absorbing all of the coil's collapsing induced primary voltage, which can amount to 200+ volts, which when present can definitely cause arcing. This is why you should always consider ventilated poihts (the one with the hole in the stationary contact). (AND change the condenser when replaceing the points to minimize this arcing condition, due to condenser ageing) This hole allows for dissipation of the generated ozone gas and cooling of the arc, allowing it to dissipate. IMO....Standard Motor Products Blue Streak points have this feature plus the largest surface area which promotes long life.....something to consider....
BOB RENTON

I agree about the ventilated points & I'd like to agree about the condenser but unfortunately unless you track down vintage NOS condensers the quality of components lately has been terrible with many condensers failing straight out of the box...

 

[rustytoolss]

Thanks guys, this help a lot

 

[RJRENTON]

I agree about the ventilated points & I'd like to agree about the condenser but unfortunately unless you track down vintage NOS condensers the quality of components lately has been terrible with many condensers failing straight out of the box...

I guess it depends on the source of the condenser. True, the stuff coming from China leaves a lot to be desired, other than cost. There is still NOS Mopar stuff available on the internet and eBay in both the bare copper strap conductor and the wire conductor with the metallic lug. You can use the Mopar NOS condenser used with the single point distributor as an alternate as the coil is the same with either distributor. Perhaps the reason for premature failures of the current supply of condensers maybe related to the dielectric materials used in manufacture, which may break down due to temperature.....just speculation on my part....
BOB RENTON

 

[1 Wild R/T]

I guess it depends on the source of the condenser. True, the stuff coming from China leaves a lot to be desired, other than cost. There is still NOS Mopar stuff available on the internet and eBay in both the bare copper strap conductor and the wire conductor with the metallic lug. You can use the Mopar NOS condenser used with the single point distributor as an alternate as the coil is the same with either distributor. Perhaps the reason for premature failures of the current supply of condensers maybe related to the dielectric materials used in manufacture, which may break down due to temperature.....just speculation on my part....
BOB RENTON

Yup.. All either of us can do is speculate.. But rest assured what ever they are doing does work... Like you & I both said, vintage NOS stuff works...

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

New condenses suck, I found about half of them failed right out of the box, I wont touch any that were made after 1980. The dual points increase the dwell time for the coil to build up. Usually around 40 or so and a single point will be around 30. Hope it helps.

Found this.

The two sets of points are positioned in the distributor so that their open and closing timing is slightly overlapped. One set becomes the closing (or make) and the other set becomes the open (or break) set. This timing overlap provides the ability to set a longer dwell time that applies voltage to the coil for a longer duration of time. The longer dwell time provides about 20% hotter spark than with a single point setup.

 

[440 Charger]

When the big magnetic pulse hits and all the electronic things die, us old points guys will be the only thing running.

That is very true for sure. All the EFI motors would fry. I would take a carb and points ign any day also a mechanical fuel pump.

 

[440 Charger]

KISS= keep it simple stupid! When the China brain box or pick up coil croaked and you need a hook and you don’t have cell service you will recall I used to have points.. A business card could have solved it all.. lol
If you run electronic buy oem or better non China made or it will bite you.. I’ve run a wrecker for decades and hauled them all..

china makes the most junk and lots of it. Make America Great Again if not for us but for the kids.

 

[F4R/T]

I was appalled when I seen JB meeting with South Korea the other day on the news . He wants to get them to help make semiconductors.......WTF? I know they can be made here you dumb bastard! Made in USA isn’t just a slogan you can not consume what you can not produce! Sorry I’m ranting but I’m so tired of China ... I don’t want my or anybodies kids to work for the Chinese government of the United Communist States.