Condenser for 1933 model B

[FrankWest]

Originally Posted by alexiskai

In my experience there are very few working Model B condensers still out there.

A previous comment said that "NOS B condensers aren't very scarce." We should distinguish between NOS and NORS, i.e., B condensers made by Ford vs those made by third parties. NORS B condensers do show up at swaps and on eBay from time to time. I've never seen a true NOS B condenser for sale. If someone is saying "there's lots of NOS B condensers," it's probably because they're looking at their personal hoard.

To be functional, a condenser needs to have the correct capacitance for its application and it needs to not leak (current, not innards) when heated to engine bay temperatures. In my experience testing several dozen NORS B condensers, maybe 10% of them were still functional. The rest had decayed, most likely from improper storage. Of condensers I've tested that were pulled from B distributor cores, none have worked. I've also had the chance to test two true NOS B condensers, both of which worked.

My advice to anyone trying to stick with the B condenser design is to get a good multimeter and learn how to check them, and be prepared to buy a lot of cores before you find a good one. Alternately you can adapt a modern reproduction A condenser, which are quite reliable and should serve without issue.

I electrically test the condensers I had and they were are intermittent, One even had the lead fall out of the condenser body as I handled it, what antique relics.
I PURCHASE 3 new Model A CONDENSERS, that can fit into the model B mount if you bend the welded tabs back If my working model B condenser craps out I will use one of those. I guess the large model A market has driven the production of Model A capacitor. I was told that heat can breakdown the condenser, so that if you drive lone enough your car might die. In 1933 when the condensers were new and coming of the factory it was a different story than today. I will leave it for now and see how it operates. The original condenser worked for 10 years although my car did stop running twice after driving 15 miles. Maybe the condenser was overheating and breaking down, temporarily. Maybe I will consider the electron ignition. I only hope that system is more reliable.