Hi,

Driving my restored T frequently- running great. Question is, what length of service might I expect to get from my coils. I have a mix, one new one, 2 w/new contacts, and 1 w/new contacts and a replacement orange drop capacitor.

Probably a good question for Ron if he happens to see this.

Thanks one and all!

I bet the ones with old parts are a big question mark regarding longevity. If one is replaced as per Ron with new cap, points, etc. how long till needs attention, till parts replace, etc.

Ron came to visit with me for a few days. We traded lies and had some fun. He is back home but has a stash of new coils to rebuild so may be busy. I will venture to offer my take on coil life. As a rough guess I would say you should get between 8000 and 10,000 miles on a set of points. About the same miles you get with points in a distributor in the days when they had points. You will get longest mileage when the T runs on magneto since it is kindest to the coil points compared to battery but it is not a radical difference from what I can tell. I know when I put new coils in my own T and I have driven well beyond 5000 miles since then and all is going OK at this time. Usually you will begin to notice a very slight miss fire when coil points are nearing end of life. I would not be surprised to find someone get longer life but shorter life is possible too if you have the wrong value or weak capacitor inside.

thanks John, we met in Rapid City last yr- i was the guy w/the Jeep- hoping to see you in Rochester.

do capacitors work right up until when they don't or will I begin to see reduced performance there, too?

George
I am out of intensive care recovering from my visit to John Regan. Grin
Capacitors deteriorate over time as a function of doing their intended job. In this case it is 80+ years.
The proper capacitors are cheap so it is best to replace them.
I have received back coils (for point replacement) I rebuilt 20 years ago and the modern replacement capacitors we installed show no sign of deterioration.
Ron the Coilman

With this group that chooses to keep a very old auto operational by fixing what we have and not discarding it in favor of something new, I wonder why it is not recommended that points be resurfaced rather the chucking them for new points.

With my very limited experience with coil rebuilding I have never used new points and have a very nicely running original ignition system Model T. It would appear that as long as the cushion spring is good, that points can be dressed to a as new condition several times before replacement is required. It seems that Ford recommended redressing points but somewhere along the line modern coil re-builders have slipped into the throw away society method of operation.

Maybe it is a time and effort thing, I'm always open to other points of view.

Jim

The price of a set of points versus the price to ship it back defective.

Doug,
It could go either way, new points are defective off the shelf and must be modified to work correctly. The cushion spring travel is too long on new points and has to be corrected by shortening the limiting rivet.
Jim

But the tradition started before the defective points did. How many point type ignition cars did we replace the condenser in when we changed the points? How many of those condensers were actually bad?

My dad always taught me to replace the condenser when we changed points. He reasoned that they were pretty cheap, so why take a chance? Then we tuned up my brother's car with new points, plugs, condenser, etc, and couldn't get it to run. We did the trouble-shooting for two days before we found out the new condenser was bad. Put the old one back in and it ran great. That was the last time I changed the condenser.

I have had the same considerations about throw away, but here is my rationale:
* When people pay around 50$ for a rebuild coil, I'd rather stick to new parts rather than take the chance with old stuff, which history I do not really know (product responsibility - Guarantee etc.)
* When people pay around 50$ for a rebuild coil, they may expect something that looks as new. I also treat the wood and paint the top black, and that brass just looks good to the blck top :-)
* If people insist on getting old points, I actually save the old ones and sort them before throwing the bad looking out, then they can get that - but no guarantee on the pints then.

Right now I drive on my pilot serie of 4 coils with new points in my T, but I have lots of old points for my own use :-) Actually I just need more T's for all those points.

I have one of Rons special vicegrib to adjust the new points to the right geometry.

The new epoxy sealed film capacitors that are being sold by most of the T dealers are far and away superior to the original T capacitors mainly because of the epoxy seal. I doubt they will ever need replacement again for the life of the coil unless the coil is subjected to conditions (electrical, environmental, physical) far different than standard application of 6V starting and magneto running. The proof of that is that almost all original capacitors still show correct capacitor VALUE but just have had moisture and tar seepage that has greatly increased their leakage which simply means they now are beginning to act like they have resistors in parallel. Just make sure you don't use the wrong type of modern capacitor since not all film capacitors will work in a T coil. Wrong type will have a very short life measured in minutes or a few hours. Also just a caution that not all "orange drop" capacitors will work. The term "orange drop" is used a lot in T circles but there are capacitors made with that enclosure package that are not suitable for T coil use and yet look identical and in fact are made by same vendor that makes our well respected "correct" coil capacitor. It has to do with what is inside that "orange drop".

Jim
I believe filing worn coil point contacts will very quickly render them useless because you will not be able to get the correct geometry and alignment so they work correctly.
Ron the Coilman

If you do wish to use used points that are not burned badly, buy a good ignition point file and after assembly use this file between the points to make them match and be in alighnment.