FYI Distributor Plug

[Mitch//pa]

I noticed Brattons has a new product so i purchased 2 of them. I know guys make them out of all kinds of things, so this seemed doable. They are made of rubber and snap right in.
https://www.brattons.com/new-parts/d...seal-plug.html

[Fullraceflathead]

Snyder's has them to. I just ordered one last week.

[jb-ob]

Mitch you gotta get outta the shop more often....A&L Parts, Canton, CT have them for sale at Hershey LAST year.

You could visit Hershey on your lunch hour and still put in eight!!

JB

[Mitch//pa]

I guess i have been under a rocklol

[Y-Blockhead]

Originally Posted by Mitch//pa

I guess i have been under a rocklol

But it is still good you let others know. I just picked up a couple ~2 weeks ago for Snyder's.

[WTSHNN]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

I agree these are nice. One of those things that is kind of surprising no one had mass-produced for the Model A hobby over the past few decades.

They are built by A&L, at least that's what they told me at Hershey when I bought one.

-Tim

[jb-ob]

Allen from A&L was working on the rubber inserts for the female dovetails for his new Station Wagon door jam pieces and drifted off into making these....he said like 7 molds later he had success.

He made a small run & I bought 1/2 to give out to friends on the field

"If you tell me what this is, you can have it".

Once they realized what they where, he sold out fast.

Just once in a while, you need to take a day off Mitch! We promise to play nice.

JB

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Originally Posted by Mitch//pa

I guess i have been under a rocklol

Next time you're under a ROCK, take your phone with you!
SA KDad

[Tom Wesenberg]

Thanks Mitch. Guess I need to look through the catalogs more often, even if I don't need something. I didn't know these were being made.

Now, we need some nice original style rubber plugs for the Phaeton top saddle holes.

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

I realize these are mentioned in the STDs, however how many unmolested original cars have you ever seen them in? Also, Ron Ehrenhoffer & I looked for the original print for them at the archives once and I don't believe we ever found it. I have the distributor assy drawing and I don't recall seeing it listed on that either. MAFCA Tech Guru Jim Cannon and I also spoke regarding these. While my opinion doesn't count, but I have yet to find a reason for these to be installed on the vehicle, ...especially when you consider the material they were manufactured from.

[SeaSlugs]

I didn't know anything actually went in there.

[Brian in Wheeling]

I believe the originals were wax...not rubber.
Brian W.

[Tom Wesenberg]

A member in our club has the original plug still in place, and I took pictures of it. Both Marco and I have posted pictures in the past of original plugs, but I'm still not sure what it is made of that will stand up to the heat.

[Mike V. Florida]

"The bus bar screw was hidden from
view with the application of a water tight sealant. The
sealant or "sealing wax" was applied at the hole in the
casting forming a blackish "plug"."

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

A new use for DUM-DUM!
Bill Dumdum

[Al 29Tudor]

Never knew anything went in there.
Thanks

[Mitch//pa]

I guess these would pass for fine point judging...unless they pop it out and perform forensics on site

[MikeK]

I believe the original plug was Chatterton's compound, a mix of gutta percha, stockholm tar, and rosin. The gutta percha content (a tree protein material similar to raw latex) prevented the material from becoming too rigid, crystalline, and cracking out.

The average Chatterton's flow temperature was about 260F. Many lead-acid batteries had the cell posts sealed into the top hard rubber cap with this stuff, not the straight tar used for setting the entire cell assembly in the case.

The thick molten material was likely poured into the condenser holes, backed by the fiber washer therein, with the dizzy body sub-assemblies on their sides and moving along an assembly line. That would account for the dome-like appearance seen on some original dizzys. Other originals appear to have had the material pressed or sealed with a cold iron, leaving a flatter plug appearance with indication of the cold tool having a chamfered edge.

Chatterton's was in common use for electrical work in the 20's. Chatterton's and sheets of gutta percha were used to seal splices in generating plants and in underground feed tunnels. An old trick when sealing the leads out of an iron frame motor was to work the Chatterton's with a well-tinned hot iron, which the compound would not stick to.

Side note: In french speaking nations common electrical tape is referred to as "chatterton's" despite the fact that it is not the material of old: "Le ruban adhésif pour électricien est appelé couramment chatterton du nom de son inventeur, un Britannique. Son mélange de goudron, de résine et d’une gomme en latex appelée gutta-percha en fait un atout indispensable pour tout électricien."

As to the rubber plug in question, the A's never used pre-formed removable pop-in plugs.

[Bob Bidonde]

No matter what you use to plug the hole, it needs to be readily removable to change a condenser. In all of the years that Model As have been successfully driven without the hole plug, why bother adding one?

[Mitch//pa]

IMO Because it looks good and it pops right out...
Helps keep the internals dry, plus it supposed to be there... ck the JS book