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condensers

To: fot@autox.team.net
Subject: condensers
From: BRITPAC@aol.com
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2002 14:54:06 EDT
We have to run points in Great Race. So far the Lucas condensers have held up 
well, but the guys with the flathead Fords have had problems (both stock and 
Mallory dual point). Apparently it's the quality of the condenser. I'm told 
most come from South America these days (like any part that's no longer sold 
in huge quantities, they get sourced overseas). We've had a few bad Lucas 
condensers out of the box, but very few field service failures. The units 
being sold with Mallorys apparently have a high failure rate, to the tune of 
1 in 4. The big, old Mallory dual point condensers with the metal strip for 
the wire are highly sought after and scrounged. That's what I'm running on my 
flathead hot rod.

I'm also told any condenser will work. For Land Rover the 4 cyl. and V8 the 
condensers are exactly the same. (I run a new Land Rover Lucas distributor in 
Scrappy.) I'm also told that heat contributes to the failures, which is why 
Mallory mounts them outside. Apparently long wires (such as to relocate the 
condenser to a cooler spot) will change the capacitance.

Modern condensers seem to run around .04 microfarads, and the darned things 
are really tiny compared to years ago. I seem to recall they used to be 
.08mfd. 

I, too, am interested in all comments on the subject. I keep a complete new 
distributor, assembled and gapped, ready to drop in. It's faster than 
fiddling with little screws you can drop.

Steve Hedke
"Moss Motors Team Scrappy"
Great Race #45, 1957 Triumph TR3
britpac@aol.com

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