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Posted By Discussion Topic: Points bounce on 46 Ford V-8 -- page: 1 2     Rob F 02-11-2013 @ 12:48 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 6 Joined: Jan 2013 Hi, My brother has a 46 Ford with a stock V-8. He has restored the car and had the engine professionally overhauled. Nearly everything on the engine is new, but it misses at 30 or 40 mph. We took it to a noted good mechanic for working on old cars in this area, and he thinks the points are bouncing. I am wondering if better points would solve the problem. I see in the Mac ford parts catalog they sell points that are US made. Has anyone here had any experience with the US made points? I called the tech support at Mac and the guy didn't seem to think the US made ones were necessarily any better. The mechanic would like to put petronix ignition in it and I think thats a great idea but they don't make petronix for that engine. The mechanic contacted petronix and found out that they are going to be making the petronix for it in about a month, but I will be really surprised if that happens that soon. also since they are brand new for that engine who knows how reliable they will be. Can you guys give me some suggestions. Thanks. Rob ford38v8 02-11-2013 @ 1:15 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 2780 Joined: Oct 2009 Rob, Welcome to you and your brother. What you need do is forget everything you've been told about replacing your ignition. The original Ford ignition of your era remains one of the best ever made, and original Ford Script points are what you need, not simply "American Made". Settle for nothing less than Ford Script and you'll not experience point bounce below your engine's highest operating RPM. As for electronic ignitions, they can't be beat for fully integrated computer controlled systems, but cannot stand up to the torturous operating conditions under the hood of an Early Ford. I assume that reliability is a high priority for you, so stick to the proven system that came with your Ford. Alan Rob F 02-11-2013 @ 2:32 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 6 Joined: Jan 2013 Thanks for your reply Alan, When you say to use nothing but "Ford Script" ,do you mean they have to be original points manufactured by Ford motor company? Where would someone find "Ford Script" points? Thanks again. Rob This message was edited by Rob F on 2-11-13 @ 2:33 PM ford38v8 02-11-2013 @ 3:25 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 2780 Joined: Oct 2009 Rob, yes, manufactured by Ford. You won't find them at any Big Box supplier, or in any catalogue. Try the smaller suppliers that handle NOS parts like Baxter Ford, Little Dearborn, C&G, Spadaro, and although not that small, even Carpenter has lots of NOS Ford parts, and is also likely to have your points. By the way, I just reread yor original post and got a laugh! You actually talked to a "Tech Support" guy at Macs? I bet that really made your day! Alan deuce_roadster 02-11-2013 @ 3:56 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 284 Joined: Oct 2009 NOS points are getting harder to find but still are available. They will have the Ford script printed on the points on the red micarta part in an orange ink. If you find some for sale look closely at the spring and metal conductor where the connecting hole is to make sure they haven't been installed. Make sure you get a pair, there is a right and left of the non pivoting contact that is scr*w*d down. I usually find them at Hershey but they show up on ebay occasionally. I agree that NOS points are the only way to go. For some reason the new versions just aren't as good. If you find some new replacement points from the 40s or 50s that look like the originals (micarta with a brass bushing, not plastic) I would try them as a second best solution if you can't find gennie ones. Get the distributor set up on a machine like a Sun or Allen. Good luck. Rob F 02-11-2013 @ 8:09 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 6 Joined: Jan 2013 I have to wonder why some company hasn't started making good points for these cars, if the only ones that will work correctly are the originals. How hard could it be to duplicate the originals? If the originals are getting very hard to find it would seem to me there would be plenty of market for quality replacements. Rob supereal 02-11-2013 @ 8:28 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 We haven't had problems with point sets from C&G, but other suppliers, including Mac's, seem to be having problems with poor quality points. We are finding weak springs and connectors with poor or missing threads. The springs showed up on our Sun machine when the distributor was strobed. Unless you have a sensitive scale or a machine, you probably won't know the difference in spring tension. A machine will also show problems with a worn distributor shaft or bushings. Find a shop with the proper equipment, or send out yours to Skip Haney or other pro. deuce_roadster 02-11-2013 @ 9:55 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 284 Joined: Oct 2009 Rob, I have always wonderd why if someone went to all the trouble to reproduce a part, any part, why not do it correctly? There is a long list of repro parts that don't quite fit, don't quite work like they are supposed to etc. It hasn't ever made any sense to me, that parts aren't manufactured correctly. It would cost the same to make the part within specs as to make it wrong. My $0.02 supereal 02-12-2013 @ 7:01 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 I can't disagree with that, but with most old car parts now being made in foreign, often third world countries, it isn't surprising, old car parts are a limited "niche" market that can't support large manufacturers in this or other places. This doesn't excuse making defective parts, but shouldn't seem surprising. My main complaint is that many vendors do a poor job of weeding out these sources even when many of us complain. The usual response is. "no one else is having your problem". Large amounts of parts being made for current vehicles come from "off shore" now, and at our shop we find increasing problems with many new ones still in the box. Rob F 02-12-2013 @ 10:00 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 6 Joined: Jan 2013 Thanks a lot for all of your help. I just love old car Forums. What a great bunch of people and so much help! I was able to find a set of NOS Ford Script points from Dick Spadaro by sending him an email. I got the tip about Dick Spadaro from Alan above in this post. Thanks again. Rob

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