Hi Guys i have just purchased a 1936 3w Ford coupe, and inside is a complete stock 59ab. i have been building vintage harleys for many years and the first thing i always do is to put on a brand new carb followed by a completely new electrical system from front to back, and finish with a brand new Morris Magneto. by doing this i experience zero problems more or less. so now i am building a car, i have worked out the carb part but do not know what direction to go in when it comes to ignition. would love a magneto but i am told that i can not buy a new one for the 59ab. then there is the Mallory and MSD electronic and dual points, but can not seem to understand what is the best. so sorry but i am not a purist when it comes to my ignition, i just want the very best set-up money can buy, and would love it to work as perfectly as possible. thank you for any time you can spare to help answer my question. james
I believe with the msd and mallorys you have to use a electric fan as the old fan will hit it once it's installed. Never had any problems with my old dual point.
Don't think it's a 59AB if the motor is the one first built in the car. If it's original it is probably a 68 series block which may or may not have insert bearings. The dizzy you have is most likely a 3 bolt unit used thru 1941. A change took place in 1942 thru 1948 in passenger cars and 1942 thru 1947 in the trucks that was a 2 bolt unit. The 59AB engines were 239 cu/in your's is likely a 221 cu/in withe 21 studs if original. If 24 studs it is probably not the original engine. I'm not a fan of the pointless dizzys but I believe most with MSD unita are happy with their results. Jim
I have been helping a friend with his 8ba, 1949 Merc. His luck with Mallory has been terrible. Unilite burnt out due to improper ground, no replacement parts for a month. Put a dual point Mallory in ran great for a hour, then point plate moved and ground out the ignition. Got that fixed and points started closing. Three different people tightened points and they still would close within two miles of running.
The two bolt is one of fords better ideas. A rebuild usually will run for a long time. nAPA has the points and condensor and you can follow the build here. http://www.lindertech.com/bhrs/flathead_crab.htm Be glad to help as ya go.... Just cleaning the unit up and lubing the weights makes a huge difference . You can adjust the contacts with a feeler gauge..............
The stock 59ab (1942-1948 Ford) is a dual point from Ford, there is NOTHING wrong w/it! I would not change a thing as far as your ignition goes. As for issues w/Mallory dual points, myself, along w/several others I know had some issues w/the Mallory condensors, this was just on 8BA Engines, but I can't imagine Mallory usinig a different condensor for earlier flattys. We changed out the condensors for a late 1950's stock Ford (I think you could use just about any 12Volt condensor from that era) unit from our local parts store & smooth sailing. Save your money, leave the stock dual point alone! I still cannot find any info on why Ford changed back to a single point system in 1949??? If anyone can shed light on that, I would be very interested, all I can come up with is it was a cost issue. Sincerely, Cheatercarl
I'm not sure this will help much. I have a 59ab in my 40 and I've run it with the original dist, a mallory and a msd. Was happy with the Mallory for a few years until it quit. Installed a MSD after that and have been happy with it. I had no problems with the fan hitting anything with any of the dist.
MSD has the best customer service ever ... I am impressed with how they stand behind their product... Joe
My policy: If it is a car I care about and plan to drive and keep awhile, if there's an ignition system available from MSD, it's what I buy. Dave
The stock 59 ab distributer set up properly on a machine to syncronizes the points will do very well and be dependable for a long time.
That's what I'm talking about! The stock stuff on this application is MORE than reliable. NO offense to the MSD users, I'm sure those work too, but unless you have money to just spend for the sake of spending it, you do not need to "upgrade" this particular ignition system, The boys at Ford got this one right on. Plus, say you are rollin down the mean streets of Coppenhagen & your MSD takes a shit on you, what do you do? Push that thing home, get a tow? Now, things start "acting up" on your stocker dual point, no big deal, clean those points up w/some sand paper & off you go! I'm just a fan of the original dual point. I vote dual points. Cheatercarl
i have sent one to gmc bubba and it came back running purrrfect. Jim i am going to be sending you 2 more here in the near future. i always like to have 2 units set up ready to go. one on the engine and one in the parts box in the rumble seat just in case.
Stock crabs are a really good design.lubed and properly adjusted they are hard to beat.everyone Ive bought at a swap meet has been near perfect once cleaned and lubed . the weakest part of the design is the cap which can allow random crossfiring if you run a high voltage coil. I have heard that a Mallory cap which has better cross firing supression just clips on, but havent tried. I carry a rebuilt ,adjusted spare in my toolkit, and a 1/2" spanner and screwdriver. if one was to give up, youre back on the road in two minutes. cant beat that.
thanks guys for all help, i guess i am from the school of (i want things to run the best they can). An original Linkert carb on a harley when rebuilt and cleaned works good, but the right modern carb improves performance by 100%. the original ignition on a harley when set right and cleaned can work well for years. but put on a Morris Magneto ignition and you have perfection. i just want the best out of my flathead, and if its the original then i will use it. but i don't want to use it because it good enough or because it is viewed as wrong to change it from the original set up in traditional hotrod sociality. i keep my rides looking very original other than when it come to fuel systems and ignitions, i rode my harley over 4000 miles last season without one single problem. i can not quite say the same for my friends that insist on using original set-ups because that is the cool thing to do. i hope i do not come off being rude or insulting. i was told by one guy the best solution is to buy a Mallory dual point ignition, then change out the points for electronic ones. (then if road probs, chuck points back in) i just know that there is a lot of great knowledge on this site and how ready you guys are to help out. thanks again james
james, i think i remember seeing your bike and or bikes on the born loser blog. nice stuff for sure. big linkert fan here..
thanks j ripper, yes i have had some stuff on bl blog. so why are you a linkert fan? i don't understand. i know that a lot of times the electronic Mallory ignitions blow because people use the wrong coils. or rather they carry on using the 12v coil that was on the bike that has the wrong ohms. maybe its the same with the cars?
you mentioned one, i run one, that is all. back to the ign for the flathead. as others have said, clean up and properly setup an orig unit and you should have no problems.
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