I Fixed our crappy distributor caps...

[rbryant]

I have been annoyed with our distributor caps and the usage of the spade terminals for a while now.

I would rather have the distributor cap wear out than the wire terminals especially when I am using MSD wires! I would also like to be able to simply take my wires off without having to pull the cap.

I contacted a couple of cap manufacturers (who were really both the same company anyway) to see if we could get a socket style cap similar to the '79 omni but in the wide short 86+ version in vain. They said it would be $100k or so to setup a distributor cap so I decided against that....

I decided that the best way to get one was to make one.

Here is what I came up with:



The roughness around the terminals is just sealant.





The plastic around the terminals will be tighter in subsequent conversions. I believe the bottom left was the last one I did and I got a better and better idea of how much material to remove and how to do it.

This is the prototype so it got a little scratched up and a couple of the holes were enlarged just a little too much. I have the process down now so the next one should be even cleaner.



The only thing that might not be popular is that they will be a 90 degree snap terminal out of the cap rather than a 180. With a 180 terminal the HEI style tower is up too high and a 180 boot doesn't cover the terminal sufficiently. The 90 degree terminal also contacts better because it touches on top side of the terminal aswell rather than just a loose fit around it like a sparkplug.

Let me know if you are interested in one of these I plan on making these part of my MSD wire setup if there is interest. Once the spade style terminal sets are gone I don't plan on building anymore wires sets that way.

-Rich

[Reaper1]

What did you do? Take out terminals from another type of cap and epoxy them in to our cap? I like what I see, just wondering what exactly was done to come up this it.

[rbryant]

That is pretty much it. Finding the right combination of parts is a pain though.

-Rich

[turbovanman²]

Not bad at all Rich,

[GLHS592]

That's nothing. I fixed my crappy distributor over a year ago.

[stargazer7467]

thats a real nice setup, howd you do it? Those look like GM coils.

[rbryant]

Kevin,

That is nice, but I am using stock electronics not aftermarket SDS efi.

My setup should help the vast majority of people that are using the stock electronics.

-Rich

[Frank]

Rich,
If you think about selling these to the general public, let me know, I will most definently do a trade with you for vendor stat. hehehehe


Frank

[rbryant]

All,

I need to check the wire lengths before finalizing all of the wire sets but...

I will be selling these both privately and through Turbos Unleashed. I am working with Frank on my limited vender status.

They will be $45 for the wires for another week then moving to $55 for either the stock type or the HEI type wires.

The cap and rotor will be another $35.

It will be another $10 for shipping and handling if you order from me (I need to get boxes, etc).

So either let me know through PM if you want a set or work with Chris @ TU for these and all of your other needs.

-Rich

[Tony Hanna]

That's pretty slick. I've been kicking around the idea of trying to build a cap like that for awhile, but it just ended up being another one of those projects I never found time for.
Nice work.

[PentastarTurbo]

That turned out pretty slick, now thats thinking outside of the box!

Are those insert pieces in th cap for the wires your using just adapted over from the 85 and older style caps?

[rbryant]

That turned out pretty slick, now thats thinking outside of the box!

Are those pieces your using just adapted over from the 85 and older style caps?

Thanks!

No they are unique... the older style VW 1.7 caps that work with 85 and older electronics are a socket type:



My orignal thought was to do just that but they mold the plastic around the sockets so there is no way to insert them... Because of that the HEI terminals work much better for the modification.

Unless everyone changes their cals to use 85 style distributors (never looked into what that would take or how much worse they function) this is the best option I could come up with.

-Rich

[Charger R/T]

All,

It will be another $10 for shipping and handling if you order from me (I need to get boxes, etc).


-Rich

I use to get free boxes from the post office. Go to their site and register and they send you priority boxes, tape, and labels to your house for free. If your registered on ebay log in and search for the link to the post office and get your free priority boxes shipped to your house with cool ebay logos on them.
Tim

[rbryant]

Only one more day to order the wires @ the intro price of $45...

I have several sets of wires and distributors caps built now so I can ship them right away!

Wires, distributor cap, and rotor all for $80 plus shipping. After tomorrow they will be $90 plus shipping!

-Rich

[butchsuppe]

Your set was install on a car at the last SoCal meeting, not too shaby. Everyone agreed though a straight boot would be nice.

[rbryant]

Thanks for the feedback!

I would have used a 180 degree terminal if it would have worked. I am actually happy with the 90 degree setup at this point.

There are a bunch of problems with using straight boots:

• Because the terminals stick up above the cap the terminal doesn't go down inside of the cap and therefore a regular boot isn't long enough to cover the terminal.
  
• Using a spark plug boot would be 180 BUT they are too small to go over the diff without being streached.
  
• The 90 degree terminals are a better contact because they touch on the top side and are snug where a 180 clip really doesn't clip as tightly.
  
• The 90 degree terminals are much less likely to pull off from the wires even if abused because the force to remove them is not in the opposite direction of the crimp. (this along with the double crimp on the spark plug terminal makes the wires very tough)

[John Neff]

Just got mine today and I must say Rich. Its looks like its made right from the factory. You did a good job putting this together and I'm sure it will work well with my set-up for my GLH.
I'll add it to my following.

1)RICH "RBRYANT Distributor cap"/ MSD 8.5mm Super Conductor Wires
2)Fireball HI-6 Series Performance Ignition
3)Fireball Performance Ignition Coil
4)Fireball Retard & Map Sensor
5)Mallory 2.2 Unilite Electronic Ignition Distributor Series 37



THNX Rich, It looks great and it will work well.

John Neff

[rbryant]

In case there is any confusion, the standard spade type terminals will work on a regular 85 distributor cap.

As another option is to make them to use a 79 omni 1.7l distributor cap which is compatible with the 85 electronics (plug and play) and available via special order from pretty much any parts store. This allows the use of a standard distributor terminal rather than a spade. Just let me know what you refer.

[GLHS377]

that's awesome. i was going to switch to megasquirt just so i could go coil on plug. this looks like a major improvement for the stock setup. and it'll work well in the interim. I'm pretty firmly rooted in the belief that a lot fo the high-rpm breakeup we see is from the distributor cap. doing dyno runs on brand new plugs, magnecor wires, coil and a cap/rotor, i'd still get breakup. good job! i'm waiting... oh wait, what epoxy do you use? seeign that that's kindof my speacialty..
-jason

[Frank]

Mine arrived last weekend and look awesome. I can't wait to install!