Technical Is there a substitute for a flathead mallory dist. cap

Hey,I bought a mallory dist. for my 59a I rebuilt this year.Well I put a pertronix unit in it but Ive gone through two distributor caps this year,both cracked for no apparent reason.Does anybody you guys know of make a better cap,if not someone should. Thanks

 

We use the NAPA distributor cap for the crab distributors and havent had the problem with the crab caps. Got any pictures of the cracked caps???
I dont see any relationship with the pertronixs and a cracked cap.
If the cap was burnt i would say the rotor index of the pertronixs module is incorrect and is causing high voltage. But you said cracks, right........??.

 

Thank you sir,I hear nuthin but great stuff about you and your place.Heres the pics.

 

Here's the other crack. 50 bucks a cap is a lil much.

 

You may be able to use an MSD cap. More details on my web site.

 

I just use a NOS Ford cap. They are fairly easily found on ebay or swap meets and will interchange as Bubba pointed out.
My original Mallory had cracks as well and started to misfire.

 

I would suggest going to the napa FA64 and FA65 Cap and rotor , then make sure the connections and wiring inside the cap terminals are getting a good connection.
I would speculate the cracks are caused by heat and the heat comes from a bad connection or defective ignition cable.........
I would suggest using some dielectric compound on all connections. If you cant find any let me know i can send ya a tablespoon etc........

 

Thanks!

 

If you are using a Pertronix unit are you also using a low resistance coil and wires? When I invested in a pertronix unit I was told I have to use low resistance wires and coil. My understanding is that if you use a higher resistance wire, the voltage will not pass through the wires. The voltage will then go back through the wires and build up heat in the cap which could cause the cap to crack.

Bubba may be able to confirm or deny this information


Fryguy