I bought a set of points for my O/T 70's car at Pep Boy's (yeah, I know) and when they arrived, they were stamped out of prolly 14g steel and the little piece that holds it off the cam was nylon and riveted to the plate. I'm pretty sure that the original points that are in the car are machined out of solid metal and have a metal piece that holds it off the cam. Are the new style stamped ones **** as I suspect? Is there somewhere that actually makes a decent set? I've never had to buy points before as every car I've bought that old came with a couple sets (my luck, I guess) and I've always just filed em down and ran em, but I was trying to replace every last ignition component in this car...
The point rubbing block would never be metal for it would ruin the cam lobes. Mallory points are in my opinion the best. Borg warner parts are even questionable now-a-days.
http://www.accel-ignition.com/Produ...ID=530&minID=5323&selection=1&minselection=9# Theirs look similar. Maybe I'm just being too picky...
I usually get BlueStreaks from CarQuest. A little more expensive than pepboys or autozone, but I've had the best luck with them.
Buy from NAPA/Echlin or Standard...I think standard may now be part of NAPA, actually. They have everything back into the mid 1930's and good quality. Buy a spare set or clean up and keep the old ones just in case. There are garbage suppliers both through normal parts channels and through the antique parts places. Many familiar names have been repeatedly bought and sold by different conglomerates--hard to say who's who and who's any good.
It's not a car that anyone would check, but I don't know that they make a conversion for it. Anyway, I'm not dropping tht kinda cash into it since the plan is to get it good and roadworthy, sell it, and buy something more traditional...
When I had cars with points I always used Napa Echlin points. I had one car that always seemed to run a little high on voltage, not enough to boil the battery but the lights were always really bright. Napa were the only ones I could get any mileage from.
Another quality test: El Cheapo rubbing blocks will wear as long as the car runs, decreasing your gap and timing continuously til you can't start any more. Good points, if set on the high side of spec, will polish down the rubbing block til all is slick and then pretty much stop wearing.
I've heard that KOI is a good place to get old car ****, unfortunately the one time I hit one looking for the elusive carb rebuild kit that none of the closer stores stock, they couldn't find it either - it's a Rochester 2GC - hardly something rare. I'll check em out, though...
Second that. I always use Echlin points in anything with a stock distributor, and they still look like the same quality they were when I bought them for my first car in high school. I've had the same ones in my Lemans for three years now, without looking at them, and it starts immediately and runs fine.
I agree. I've done a couple of electronic conversions for ~$5 using junkyard parts. It's not hard. Just take your distributor with you to the wrecking yard. Tell the counter guy what you're doing so they know you brought a distributor with you. Then just go find another distributor that has a ring and pickup that will fit in YOUR distributor. Make sure the ring has a smaller (or same) bore than the lobes on your shaft. Then bore out the ring or have a machinist friend do it for you so the ring will slip over your distributor shaft (or turn the lobes off on a lathe). A press fit or a set screw will be needed so you can get it lined up right and not move around. After you pull the points and condenser out of your distributor there should be room to mount the magnetic pickup. Two wires and you're done. Forever. I've done a couple. The last one was a VW distributor converted with $5 worth of parts I pulled out of a Mitsubishi. My wrecking yard makes it easy because they have a mountain of distributors to dig through instead of going from car to car. Alternatively you can get an off-t******lf kit for $70-$100 but what's the fun in that? -Ben M.
I have a PERTONICS point eliminator kit in my 65 buick daily and was amazed at the stuff in their catalog. They even have one for my 6 volt pos. grounded 1950 flat six Chrysler ! I was stunned on that one.{even some marine and industrial engines too!} R.R. oh yeah,A good set of points should have a phenolic rubbing block and come with a capsule of cam lube too. Just 'cause it looks like a pill,dont swallow it! again, R.R.
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