HJ. Many thanks for posting this on my behalf. I own a 1953 Austin Champ. Austin B40 engine I recently fitted new condenser and points. Not having a great deal of experience with points I did the best I could, the engine was running fine for around 50 miles, when it stopped. This happened really quickly and I was not aware of any degradation of performance (if thats the right term for a Champ) On checking the points I saw a spike of metal from one to the other and was thus closing the gap. Quick file later, reset and away we go. However I am concerned that a spike has built up so quickly. Is this because the timing is incorrect and needs re setting? or is it that the points are moving after being set.
any help would be appreciated
gtgeoff
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 24/09/2009 at 14:28
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I had a similar problem with a more modern car that had points. Every 500 to 1000 miles the point contacts needed filing to remove the spike of metal. I ended up fitting one of those electronic ignition systems that use the points as an on/off switch. This cut down on the amount of electrical current the point contacts had to handle and resulted in no more problems with the points.
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Sounds like the new condenser isn't working to me.
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Most definitely the condenser. In the past I've changed many condensers for this fault. If you still have the old one - re-use it. If the car did many trouble free miles with it fitted, then it'll be ok. Just make sure the heel (thats the bit that rests against the centre cam with the lobes on) of the points has a very light smear of grease on it. This prevents the heel wearing quickly and causing your points to close.
Ah, points eh.......those were the days!!!!
Robin the Technician
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Also what gap are you setting them to. If it is too small excessive arcing can occur. Regards Peter
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Most likely a faulty condensor (capacitor) causing this. It would have nothing to do with the ignition timing as the distributor doesn't care where the engine is, it just provides a spark at 'that' time. It is the 'back-emf' from the coil which will cause the points burning.
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Agree the new condensor could be faulty. Quite often when I fitted a new condensor the new one proved to be faulty, they must have had real rubbish quality control..Working from memory max points gap on that car is 15 thou (old money).
Points....those were the days. I once tried one of the early "Sparkrite" electornic ignition systems in a MK1 Triumph spitfire, it replaced the points with an electronic magnetically operated switch. It ran really well for about 120 miles, then the electronics went wrong. Lots of money at the time.....I went back to good old points and never had any more problems.
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unfortunately many parts for old motors
points
condensers
rotor arm
caps
are poor copies of tried and tested items
heed the advise above but more importantly next time you are at an autojumble look for old but new stock of these serviceable parts
saw a beauty champ at harrogate last month,one if not the first one built too showing at the strand
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Agree the new condensor could be faulty.
I never did get to the bottom of the points arcing despite changing the condensor a couple of times, hence fitting the electronic ignition. I actually built it myself from being given instructions on how to from an electronics magazine (I think) - thanks Percy, btw. I suspect the car I fitted it to is scrapped by now.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 07/09/2009 at 13:35
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I changed the old condenser/ capacitor as it started to backfire when under load and whilst I was at it thought it a good idea to replace the points. The capacitor was, new, old stock (N.O.S.) from a dealer. I still have the old points and capacitor, but I think I am going to get another one just in case. The car had been running fine for a year when the backfire problems started. Old motors eh? great fun till you are stuck at the side of the road.
Please I welcome any further comments to help me on my way
regards
gtgeoff
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I don't think it's this.....but years ago I had one car with play in the distributor rotor. This caused vibration which made the point's arc like mad and it cause a little missing at certain speeds....This was because they were not opening properly (too small a gap) at these times. If new condensers don't fix it and the car has been running rougher and rougher with time, this could be worth checking. I suspect though it's a car which does relatively little mileage now and the problem has sprung up out of the blue.
The other thing I once did when much younger was to fit a super duper high power coil to my car, much higher power than the rest of the system was designed for, this cause problems at the time....presumably the rest of the ignition system is standard, or replaced with parts to standard specification?
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Yes the engine has standard parts,
www.iln.org.uk/iln_years/year/images/1952/1952cham...g
it was designed to drive through 5 foot of water, so everything is extremely over engineered and therefore it would be difficult to exchange any part for non standard. The car does very little mileage and the problem happened over one journey. I will check the rotor for play and check the points after every journey until I get an idea of what is happening.
cheers again
geoff
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Not sure if this will fit, but you could try a modern condenser and outboard it on the side of the distributor, as it probably won't fit inside. I think you said you had new/old replacement, if so, I believe some types of those old condensers do degrade with time.
Of course if you are trying to keep it completely original for some reason, then you won't want to do that.
Edited by davecuk on 07/09/2009 at 23:49
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The replies are right to point to the condenser. Never use a New Old Stock condenser, use a new Lucas DCB101C, another number on the box RTC3472G. These were used in Series Land Rovers and should be easily available from LR dealers for around £2\£3. These will fit inside the distributor, just bend the tab over and they fit straight in - be careful to keep the wire away tag from the distributor body. The points are Lucas DSB134, 54423459, NATO number 2920-99-816-6186, these are usually only available from military dealers and should be around £10\£12.
If you have trouble getting either let me know.
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yup,
new condenser bought, didn't bother bending the tab over as it fits quite easily. Couple of quid from a land rover dealer. Spare bought as well. Now runs fine. Lesson learnt. many thanks.
geoff
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