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rotorwrench · 09-19-2020, 06:18 PM

In a dual point system with only one coil, one set of points opens or breaks the circuit and the other set closes the circuit with a very marginal amount of overlap. The Ford/Mallory V8 distributor designs used this feature. This was the only way to get maximum coil saturation for the early design coils on the helmet and crab type distributors. They needed all the help they could get in that respect for efficiency and reliability.

Dual coil, dual point distributors have to have a special cap to function as two 4-cylinder type ignitions in one package. This way they could get the full saturation of a 4-cylinder type ignition for all 8 cylinders. These were the latest in technology for hot rodders back in the day and could work with a lot higher rpm than stock ignitions. It was about the only way to get 12 and 16 cylinder engine ignition systems to work reliably.

09-19-2020, 06:18 PM	#8
rotorwrench Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 16,440	Re: Purpose of dual points? In a dual point system with only one coil, one set of points opens or breaks the circuit and the other set closes the circuit with a very marginal amount of overlap. The Ford/Mallory V8 distributor designs used this feature. This was the only way to get maximum coil saturation for the early design coils on the helmet and crab type distributors. They needed all the help they could get in that respect for efficiency and reliability. Dual coil, dual point distributors have to have a special cap to function as two 4-cylinder type ignitions in one package. This way they could get the full saturation of a 4-cylinder type ignition for all 8 cylinders. These were the latest in technology for hot rodders back in the day and could work with a lot higher rpm than stock ignitions. It was about the only way to get 12 and 16 cylinder engine ignition systems to work reliably.