I thought it was a condenser of some sort. It is the little condenser looking piece right next to the coil in the pic. I would just like to know what it is for.
what is this piece for
- Thread starter trudysduster
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ssba
Well-Known Member
Noise suppressor for the radio?
pishta
I know I'm right....
Might be an RF supressor for radio. Is it mpunted straight to coil?
I'm in the same camp as the two above.
I thought that was what the condenser inside the dist. cap was for. I have one there too. a whole lot os suppression going on here. and yes it is hooked right to the coil.
andrew3408
1969 Plymouth valiant
its for the radio to supress the noise
bruceo2011
Still waiting for Y2K
^^^^^^^^^^^^ x2
nm9stheham
Well-Known Member
Interference suppressor. Not always needed; my '62 Dart does not have it on the /6 and the old Bendix hybrid tube/transistor AM radio is super sensitive.
It should connect to the + side of the coil if installed.
It should connect to the + side of the coil if installed.
AJ/FormS
68 Formua-S fastback clone 367/A833/GVod/3.55s
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Noise suppressor. Car runs fine without it. Radio, not so much.And it will also affect radios in the next lane, or sometimes in the house.
TrailBeast
AKA Mopars4us on Youtube
X3
You do have to have one connected though, either at the points or at the coil for the car to run right.
Basically a "condenser" soaks up the extra arch produced by the points.
They were also used to keep RF interference down for AM radios.
nm9stheham
Well-Known Member
Yes, the one inside the distributor is connected in a different part of the circuit (coil -) and functions differently; it is there to protect the points from arcing and burning. (And I suppose it could be connected to coil - external to the distributor but I don't recall seeing that on older cars.) It does indeed have to be there; the interference suppresor on the + side of the coil does not.
BillGrissom
Well-Known Member
I second post #12. The little one inside the distributor protects the points. You might get a little more powerful spark without it, but the points would burn up sooner. Personally, I wouldn't run a points ignition in a driver car today, and even converted my 1969 Dart in 1989.
The bigger one on coil+ keeps the sparking from disturbing +12 V in the rest of the car. AM radios are particularly susceptible to noise. Modern radios already have power filters.
The bigger one on coil+ keeps the sparking from disturbing +12 V in the rest of the car. AM radios are particularly susceptible to noise. Modern radios already have power filters.
tekslk
Well-Known Member
Mine also has one on the wiper motor.
I may convert it a little later. I was surprised when I took off the cap and saw the points in there. The last car I had with points was a 1970 Super Bee with a 383 in it. It had dual points and I hated it.
TrailBeast
AKA Mopars4us on Youtube
I used to do marine mechanical/maint in another life and I would diagnose a bad condenser by waiting till the motor started missing and then connect a condenser by hand grounding the case to the coil braket and the pos lead to the to the coil negative.
If it straigtened out the condenser was failing.
Of course this was if there were no other problems I could see for a boat to start running like crap and die 5-10 miles out for no apparent reason.
There were only two times I ever needed to do it that way because the condenser is such a cheap part and should always be replaced along with the points anyway.
Problem was, after paying $1,500 per tow twice because his boat quit 10 miles out the SOB wouldn't believe me that they can do go bad and that it should have been replaced when he did his own tuneup. (A $3,000+ dollar tune up plus a $1.19 condenser now)
Cheap bastage had money too.
Anyway, it's the same with car engines that are points fired.
(you can ground the condenser case and touch the lead to any negative part of the wiring between the points and distributor) even with the existing one still in there, and if the one in the distr is bad it will smooth right out as soon as you connect it.
Old School Tricks.
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