I got my new restorer mag today

[George Miller]

They got a BS story about how much better so called modern points are. They stop using them in middle 70ts. my experience is not the same as theres.

[Mitch]

Is this the same story about the points contacts being brass? Who wrote that article?

[George Miller]

He said the original points are made from brass. I don't know if he means now or then. and yes it is Lynn

[tbirdtbird]

Is this the same story about the points contacts being brass? Who wrote that article?

Yep, and a bunch of other BS

[Mitch]

Who wrote the article?

[Gil]

I keep seeing it asked...."Who wrote that article?"
Lynn Sodenaa from Sandy, Oregon.

[Mitch]

Thank you..

[George Miller]

I do not know how I got 26,000 miles out of the used original points that came with the my 1928 Sport Coupe.
Bottom line is well made points are well made points. cheep points are cheep points. Buy the best you can find.

[Mitch]

Here are a whole bunch of tech articles by the author. At a quick glance the 11th one down on bumper clamps. " use clear plastic zip ties to hold your bumpers on" With a picture

http://www.volcanoas.net/tech-notes.html

[BNCHIEF]

Seriously ing

[tbirdtbird]

I just scanned a few of those articles. I have issues with everything I read, so I stopped. It is also stated not to use SS bolts and nuts because they will 'cold-weld' themselves together. I am in trouble because I have used SS fasteners almost exclusively on the 8 cars I have fully restored over the past 35 years. When you are from New England, the land of the salt, you do everything in your power to get around salt, and SS fasteners is one of those ways. I have never even heard of the term 'cold welding'. Must be like that 'cold fusion' BS foisted on us a few years back by that pair of fake engineers Fleischmann and Pons LOL

[Dennis]

tbirftbird, obviously they don't know about antiseeze with stainless.

[GRutter]

Off to Home Depot. I don't have zip ties on any of my bumper clamps. Bumper hasn't fallen off yet. I'm just lucky that way

[BNCHIEF]

Welcome to the VFF, make sure you get the right color of zip ties for fine point judging and install them correctly.

[Jeff/Illinois]

The right color of zip ties..................now THAT is funny I'm still laughing

[Tom Wesenberg]

Off to Home Depot. I don't have zip ties on any of my bumper clamps. Bumper hasn't fallen off yet. I'm just lucky that way

Do you think the zip ties were meant as a safety holder, because the diecast aluminum clamps were so bad that they could break while driving down the road, and the car might run over them?

[tbirdtbird]

of course you wouldn't want to spend the extra 5 bucks and get the good clamps

[George Miller]

no I do want to pay that 5 bucks, I'm not going to drive it that much. and it is only 200 dollar bumper.

[Mitch]

I think i'm going to use bailing wire. It's less noticeable and stronger. The plastic ties tend to get brittle and snap from the cold weather. The acceptance of bailing wire will be added to the next JS & RG revisions : )

[BNCHIEF]

Mitch you also need to change your zip ties when you change your oil,also rub a little zddp on the zip ties to avoid damage to your flat bumpers. Maintenance is the key.

[Guest]

Wow,
Well I got the mag today and just read the article.
What a sad event that it was ever published!

I don't know the author, and I do appreciate that he wrote and contributed an article. But...

Unfortunately that article is almost entirely full of factual errors, misunderstandings of the original as well as the so-called "modern" designs, lack of understanding on how points and condensers function, as well as mis-statements about most of the various materials used in their construction.

Further repeated mis-statements about the glories of newer points and the deficiencies of the original parts and designs was the icing on the cake.

I was hard-tasked to find virtually any statement in the article I could agree with based on my 45+ years working on Model A Fords.

And the biggest offense? It was published in the MAFCA Restorer magazine of all places!

[BNCHIEF]

Welcome to the VFF

[George Miller]

yes it is and the bad part people believe what they read in a magazine. So some more people will start doing it wrong. You will never get them to do it right.

[DaWizard]

Hey Magnificent Seven, WELCOME to the VFF!!

[Tom Wesenberg]

of course you wouldn't want to spend the extra 5 bucks and get the good clamps

I agree and bought my clamps from A&L. They are the best there are unless you can find nice originals.
I've told lots of people about the risk they take if they use the diecast aluminum clamps that have no strength, besides looking so wrong.

...risk they take if they use the diecast aluminum clamps that have no strength...

Just FYI, they are all die cast zinc, not aluminum, and they have been around since the 1970s when Specialized Auto Parts blessed us with them!

[CarlG]

I hope this isn't a preview of things to come with a brand new editor of the magazine.

[Mitch]

Maybe we can submit our pcv thread.. lol

[BNCHIEF]

Also our pvc thread.

[Jeff/Illinois]

Carl reading the Financial Statement of the Club I noticed that Administration Expenses were listed at $381,000. Now I don't know just what all that entails but that seems like a lot of dough.

[2manycars]

I laugh at the term "modern points". they were developed in 1957. That is hardly modern. It is probably harder to find high quality 57 Ford points than it is to find high quality model A Ford points. The whole concept is wrong, and a set of original points with a good condensor from A&L will last longer than many of us. I have the same set in my tudor for 10 years now.
I think it is a travisty that a magazine entitled "Restorer" would print such bogus modifications. Maybe the magazine should be renamed "Rhube Goldberg fixes".

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

I ran a "modern" UPPER PLATE/POINTS, with a Pig Tail Lead, in Minerva, for over 12,000 TROUBLE FREE Miles!---AND, that untouched Distributor is now Sparking in VERMIN!
Dad Pleased

[Dennis]

So who has the best original points and condensor to buy? I'm going to recondition my old distributor and have it ready for a spare. I can wait until I have another order to place and include them.

[Dennis]

I should have read Bill's post first...

[Kevin in NJ]

I already complained on the burn. Seems a lot of people are not happy with the article. I thought I would get a lot of crap about it, most are supportive.

[tbirdtbird]

The article is trash and should never have been published. There has been some sentiment that why don't we all shut up and be happy someone wrote something. In other words, bad info is better than NO info.
Well, sorry, that doesn't work for me, in any aspect of my life.

How would these same people feel if their doctor was using wrong information to treat them? Would that be OK, too?

Now I have to wonder if the info in ANY of the articles is any good, since no one is minding the store.

The entire article should be retracted. My opinion

[George Miller]

I agree no information is better than wrong. With no information you know you have to look more. False will cost time and money.
I have always been one to do it to best of my ability. Close enough is not good enough in my book.

[Jeff/Illinois]

tbirdtbird, they can always fill those pages with more stories of people going out to eat pancakes or maybe a few more redundant ads. Sorry M.D. I had to beat you to that one!!

[CarlG]

New editor needing to fill up pages with whatever.

[Jeff/Illinois]

I had modern points for a time, maybe 4-5 years, went from original to the 'new' modern points and got tired of trying to set the points accurately, ditched all that went back to the original set up with an original SP Standard Products upper plate with an A&L condensor and never looked back. I like Henry's original set up a LOT better than that deal.

Seems like the more we try to 'improve' the more we go back to the original engineering on these cars.

I recall an article in The Restorer many years ago where somebody came up with the idea of taking out the distributor side oiler, tapping it for a zerk, and squirting grease in the dissy instead of a drop of light oil to lubricate the upper bushing. Even as a young guy new to Model A's I thought 'THAT can't be a good idea' and look how it turned out. People that did that 'improvement' are still trying to clean grease out of their dist. assemblies!!!

[Kevin in NJ]

I recall an article in The Restorer many years ago where somebody came up with the idea of taking out the distributor side oiler, tapping it for a zerk, and squirting grease in the dissy instead of a drop of light oil to lubricate the upper bushing. Even as a young guy new to Model A's I thought 'THAT can't be a good idea' and look how it turned out. People that did that 'improvement' are still trying to clean grease out of their dist. assemblies!!!

In the owners manual it tells you to fill up the dist oiler with oil. If people only put in a few drops the upper bushing will never get oiled.

So it is not the oil hole Henry forgot. It may be more the oil hole no one ever read the instructions on how to fill.

[BNCHIEF]

Kevin correct me if I am wrong but if your distributor has the oiler it will do a good job of oiling the bottom bushing if you remove the cap and the cam retaining bolt is drilled you can oil the top bushing better that way as long as the shaft is drilled in order to get oil to the upper bushing.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

My poor NIEVE Momma would say, "If it weren't TRUE, they wouldn't PRINT it"!!---How we wish it was that way!

[George Miller]

Well we got chewed out good on **** **** about disagreeing with Lynn BS article. Far as I'm concerned If they can not get it close to right don't write it. To many people believe that sorry crap.

Must be about time for the FB post to be shut down and the big boss to make a speech.
You boys play nice and stop talking trash!

[BNCHIEF]

Send them all to bed without their supper.

[tbirdtbird]

Seems the reading comprehension skills over on the darkside leave something to be desired.
The article clearly stated that original points are made from brass or phosphor bronze. This is just not true.
He goes on to say that original points will float at 45 mph, and this cannot happen with modern points. Also, just not true.
I guess I was dreaming that my car was doing just fine over 45 mph. And any points construction can float at high enough rpm.

I could go on, but why bother.

Anyone that defends these false statements has not a single clue how an ignition system actually works

[BNCHIEF]

Tbird if our points float over 45 mph you and I are both using the same stuff in our coffee.

[George Miller]

how come the points on my Vette do not float at 130. If points float at 45 he needs to find out why. 4 cylinder floating points at less than 2,000 rpms is BS I had a Fuel Injected 59 vette that would turn 7,000 rpms with out point float. And that is 8 cylinders that means it fires twice as often.

[Jeff/Illinois]

A good friend had a 1970 Torino SCJ 429 he bought new when he came home from the Army's "SE Asia Vacation" as he'd call it. It had the Drag Pac Option.

THAT car had dual points he told me because of point float from the factory. That torque bearing throw you back in the seat monster wouldn't compare to a little ole Model A Ford!!

[George Miller]

This post on the dark side is starting to get real dark. They got a warning.

[tbirdtbird]

I suspect that not everyone even knows what "point float" is

[Mitch]

I pulled a couple of the last posts and this is why.

I’m cool with discussing the the topic at hand. Feel free to carry on doing just that if you wish. Nobody has to walk on egg shells here to express their opinions. I just ask that the garbage and trash stay over there where it belongs, in the can. There really is no need to duplicate it here and contaminate the VFF server. I’m pretty sure everyone has been reading it on the darkside anyway. Certain names are not welcome here for good reason.


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