Distributor Cap

[skip hartline]

Evening All,
Got a question I don't believe I've ever seen discussed. I had Mr. Paterson redo my Point Type distributor with a good advance curve and the new
pertronix set up a few years ago and am very happy with it but I'm going to be putting on new wires and was wondering if anyone knows of an advantage
to going to a cap with the post setup like an HEI uses or just stay with the original socket type, going to be buying cap anyway and the wires I have
can be made up either way. Just interested in hearing any opinions or experiences, Thanks.
Skip Hartline

--
74 Canyon Lands, FiTech,
3.7 FD, Manny Tranny,
Springfield Distributor,
2001 Chevy Tracker Ragtop Towd

 

[john r. lebetski]

Great question! Might be easier to find 8MM Magcore wires with female terminals. I would ask Dick though.
--
John Lebetski
Woodstock, IL
77 Eleganza II

 

[Rdenney]

The distributor I bought from Dick at least a dozen years ago had a cap for
8mm wires. I bought my wires from Dick also. Make sure you use silicone
grease to keep the boots from welding themselves to the plugs.

Rick “ask me how I know” Denney

On Fri, Feb 8, 2019 at 8:57 PM Skip Hartline via Gmclist <

> Evening All,
> Got a question I don't believe I've ever seen discussed. I had Mr.
> Paterson redo my Point Type distributor with a good advance curve and the
> new
> pertronix set up a few years ago and am very happy with it but I'm going
> to be putting on new wires and was wondering if anyone knows of an advantage
> to going to a cap with the post setup like an HEI uses or just stay with
> the original socket type, going to be buying cap anyway and the wires I have
> can be made up either way. Just interested in hearing any opinions or
> experiences, Thanks.
> Skip Hartline
>
> --
> 74 Canyon Lands, FiTech,
> 3.7 FD, Manny Tranny,
> Springfield Distributor,
> 2001 Chevy Tracker Ragtop Towd
>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
>
--
Rick Denney
73 x-Glacier 230 "Jaws"
Off-list email to rick at rickdenney dot com

 

[Matt Colie]

> Evening All,
> Got a question I don't believe I've ever seen discussed. I had Mr. Paterson redo my Point Type distributor with a good advance curve and the new
> pertronix set up a few years ago and am very happy with it but I'm going to be putting on new wires and was wondering if anyone knows of an
> advantage to going to a cap with the post setup like an HEI uses or just stay with the original socket type, going to be buying cap anyway and the
> wires I have can be made up either way. Just interested in hearing any opinions or experiences, Thanks.
> Skip Hartline

Skip,

To Quote another, great question!

And as it happens, I know the real answer.

Early in the existence of HEI (like before it was production) GM found out the that current production secondary wires were not up to the task with
HEI and the wide gaps. So, they went to the new silicon rubber wires with a wrapped core and glued on boots. Fortunately, very early in the
durability programs, they realized that if a wire failed and a replacement was needed, an old stock wire would fail almost immediately and that would
also take out the internal parts of the distributor...
Their only choice was to make the HEI wires unique to HEI. That is really the whole answer.

Let me tell you about a non-electric shock. In the late 70's, I was working on a friends GM car and it was obvious that wire had been mis-routed and
it had abraded to the point it could leak to ground. I called one of my regular suppliers for a wire kit. He said no got - dealer only. Over to the
dealer, the parts guy says a whole set is 60+ dollars? He asked which wire I needed. Fortunately, I knew and he looked up a number and got one.
When he laid it on the counter and said that it was a seven dollar part, that was the shocker. He then went on to tell me that they rarely sell wires
for HEI.

As with all things, the aftermarket caught up after a while. You can choose the cap you like because secondary wires of this quality are very
available. I am not current enough in the market to give you brand/part number advice, but there are lots of good wires out there now and they also
do not age out the way they did 40 years ago.

I am running a good standard cap with someone's gonzo wires because I am running a real CDI fired by Pertronix and I only replace plugs when I get
nervous about how old they are.

Matt
--
Matt & Mary Colie - '73 Glacier 23 - Members GMCMI, GMCGL, GMCES
Electronically Controlled Quiet Engine Cooling Fan
OE Rear Drum Brakes with Applied Control Arms
SE Michigan - Twixt A2 and Detroit

 

[johnny]

When I looked closely, my coach has a Pertronix 'Flaemthrower' in the hole. I had thought it was MSD. Anyway it has a good rugged properly built
cap.

Along with cheap rotors,cheap caps are one of the failure modes for these systems. The second there's a surface crack holding dust or an atrc mark,
the path across the now carbonized cap is less resistance than across the sparking plug, and failure results. The parts savings go away quickly
beside the road on a rainy night with just the cab lights available to troubleshoot.

--johnny
--
Foolish Carriage, 76 26' Eleganza(?) with beaucoup mods and add - ons.
Braselton, Ga.
"I forgive them all, save those who hurt the dogs. They must answer to me in hell" - ol Andy, paraphrased

 

[david h. jarvis]

Beware of counterfeit MSD distributors.
A friend had a MSD dist. that went bad. He took it back and through some searching found the serial numbers were all the same.
Guess where it was made.