[Kevin in NJ]

Here is a bunch of stuff to chew on........

In listening to the Nurex guys at the flea markets I would say you can not trust what they say.

They are into actively selling their products. If you believe what they say at the flea markets then it truly is a wonder how the A worked before their products. If you try to ask some valid questions when they have a crowd around their demo engine they get nasty and will not answer the question. BTW, the main question we ask is how much current the alt will actually output when installed on the A with the small pulley. They got very defensive and refused to answer the question.
Years before I remember just listening them tell a crowd about how the original generator was nothing but part just ready to fail and you MUST have an alt to expect reliable operation.
In the end, they are into selling you their products.

From a simpler stand point, Ford issued a plate to redirect heat from the exhaust manifold to increase life of the early condensers. You must keep in perspective the early condensers used inferior chemical electrolytes that would dry out fast in the plain paper. Today they use modern plastics and electrolytes that can last a very long time if you choose to purchase that type of condenser.

We are all real quite to make some assumptions about heat inside and outside the dist. The dist is going to reach some end point temp based on how fast heat goes in and goes out. You also get a temp spike when the engine is shut down and the heat concentrates and there is not air moving to allow the heat to leave. I do not know, but is it possible that the condenser in the cap sees a higher temp at some point then the original one. Keep in mind condensers do not fail from use so much as exposure to conditions that break down the chemicals inside.

Not that people want to hear this. There is a great variation in how engines run. A engine that was carefully assembled such that the rust was pulled from inside the engine, the valves were set up properly with a good cam and so on is going to run cooler. An engine with a small valve problem, a small timing problem, less then ideal cooling, and a carb off a little can lead to an engine that runs hotter.

I work as an electronics engineer and have played quite a bit in repair what ever. It is interesting to find how modern devices are intentionally designed to fail. A great example from the 90's was a VCR that had this power supply section. It was an area a few inches long and wide. The two major components were a power resistor (something that gets hot) and the filter electrolytic capacitor (like used on the dist). The section could have been built with a couple of inch separation between the heat source and the cap, but no they were located next to each other. All this type of VCR failed at about the same time. It took a $.20 part to fix the problem.

There was another type of cap problem on the Dell computers. The motherboard manufacturer bought caps from a company that stole the electrolyte formula from another company, but they did not get the full formula. The caps were exploding on the motherboards causing them to fail.

So what does this all mean, well you would not know how to tell good from bad with the caps. The modern type caps you would be using could come from many sources. The car parts business is fickle these days. My brother sees it every day. Some some is great and others stuff is crap and it can be from the same main source. Those little ignition caps are almost a zero market cause what really uses them anymore? So just where are they going to get them from and what do they care if they do not work right?
You guys that change out good ones with new thinking that you are doing good might be very wrong and it will only get worse with time.
My thinking is that the part you get from A&L is likely to be a better specified part. A&L has been in business to sell cheap parts, they seem to try there best to sell a good product. The cost difference between a quality condenser and a cheap on is probably pennies at worse maybe a dollar.
Nurex and other modern suppliers get what ever condenser that comes along. There are probably several sources for the modern style condensers. Who knows where the big suppliers are getting their stock to sell. This week it could be from a good company and next week a crap one. Keep in mind this could even be Ford who is supplying the parts.

Pretty much everyone that has put a burn out proof condenser on their has not had a failure since, least that is what I have been hearing. My brothers car would go throw condensers like candy till the mid 80's when he put on the burn out proof condenser.

A final note.

If you are constantly playing with your dist then you did not rebuild it right.
Unless you are doing tens of thousands of miles a year on your car there are only 3 things you will need to do to your dist.
Lube the shaft.
Lube the cam.
Adjust the points once in a great while. (Once the wear block is worn into the cam)

It is a proven fact that the original dist will run for tens of years with minimal effort with the right selection of parts. One example is my brother's car that has been running the used original type aftermarket points that came with the car in 1970.