Rebuilding ignition points

[crazycars]

As the supply of ignition points dwindles, especially for 'teens and twenties cars, I've noticed prices soar. I recently paid $100 for a set of points for my 1923 Dodge Brothers phaeton.

 It seems to me that there must be some way to renew the tungsten tips on points.  I'm thinking of using point tips from very commonplace, inexpensive points and  then silver soldering  them onto the point base of my rare, used up ignition points .  Has anyone  out there ever heard of such a procedure?  I could just go the way of electronic ignition and have my distributor set up to take a 4 cylinder modern Chevy cap but would prefer to stay as original as possible.

              While on this subject, might there be a way to rebuild a rare distributor cap, too? Reproduction Atwater Kent 4 cylinder caps are selling for $160 and NOS bring $200 or more.

 Please let me know your thoughts on this.

[Bhigdog]

8 minutes ago, crazycars said:

Has anyone  out there ever heard of such a procedure? 

 

Should work. I suggest you use a small piece of fluxed silver braze foil under the contact and a wire pressing on the contact to keep it in position while cooling. Assuming you will be using a torch it will have to be quite small. You might be able to talk a jeweler into the job. It would be easy peasy for them they have the tools and know how.......Bob  

[Frank DuVal]

The younger crowd will speak up with ways to 3D print distributor caps!

 

Printing points will be a few years off....

 

 

[cahartley]

I've done that crazycars.

It's not easy to get them to stay where you want them but it can be done.

[Owen_Dyneto]

Rather that use modern inexpensive points as donors for the tungsten contact pads, you might contact one of the makers of ignition points and see if they would be willing to supply you with some.  Many years ago Standard Ignition (makers of Blue Streak points) graciously provided me with a supply for me to use as you describe.  

[crazycars]

Quote

By jove!  I'll do it!

 

[Rusty_OToole]

I used to have a small bag of points as you describe. An electrician gave them to me. I think they may have been for repairing electrical relays. Never used them, and they seem to have got lost.

 

Worn points can be filed down smooth and reused if there is anything left. I have taken rare point sets apart and rubbed them down on an oil stone until the were smooth. The smoother you get them, the better. If you have a good condenser they will not burn very fast. And, if you install electronic ignition they will last indefinitely since they carry so little current. I have plans for a home made 6V electronic ignition around here someplace but if you are curious, you could do a web search and I bet something turns up.

[crazycars]

I think I will research that. Let you know if I turn anything up. Thanks.

[Guest]

https://www.google.ca/search?q=tungsten+ignition+contacts&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwib9Yen_ufWAhXnsVQKHaB3BVoQsAQIQg&biw=1280&bih=908

Hemmingway sell them or you can cut up TIG electrodes and silver solder them on.
http://www.hemingwaykits.com/acatalog/Ignition.html

Here is a company that makes tungsten rivets and other shapes for use as contacts:

http://www.tungstencontact.com/company-profile.html

[zeke01]

What about the spring tension on the points? I'm thinking that the spring would lose tension due to normal wear. Zeke

[Rusty_OToole]

Back in the fifties you could buy a little grindstone specifically for grinding ignition points. I remember seeing ads in English automotive magazines. I suppose every garage in England had one back then.

 

It shouldn't be too hard to make something if you had enough old points to make it worth while.

 

Given the quality of the Chinese point sets you get these days refurbishing and reusing your old points, may be the only way to get good ones unless you find some NOS American made parts.

[lump]

My 1923 Hupmobile is equipped with Westinghouse brand ignition components. Believe it or not, my local NAPA store doesn't stock replacement ignition parts for Westinghouse systems. When my dad was suddenly taken from me in an auto accident, I was left with the Hupmobile that I had to learn how to keep running. It was tragic that I no longer had him as a source of knowledge about the car. 

 

I vaguely recalled my dad explaining that he had taken ignition points from an early 1960's Pontiac 4 cylinder, and adapted them to fit the Hupp, in place of original Westinghouse points. But when the existing points needed replaced, the local auto parts store staff and I went through box after box of points, finding no match for the points I had taken from the Hupp. Then one day when I was working the big SEMA show in Las Vegas, I stopped by the Mallory Ignition booth, and chatted with a friend who was an executive with that company. I noticed a stylized "M" stamped into some ignition parts...and then it struck me. That same symbol was stamped into the worn-out points I had removed from my Hupp! I had thought it was a "W," for Westinghouse, but it was a Mallory "M." Indeed, dad must have discovered that using just one set of points designed for a Mallory dual-point distributor was a good fit for the Hupmobile's Westinghouse system. My friend Bob from Mallory gave me 2 or 3 sets to try out, and I am still using them today. 

 

The moral to the story: You may want to try and adapt an entire set of points to fit your distributor, rather than trying to firmly solder tungsten tips on the points. That's just my experience, for my one car.