Modern Motorcraft Points

[juke joint johnny]

It will soon be Spring time in the UK so thought it was about time to tune up the old pickup.
I bought one of the Petronix flame thrower coils and it really made a difference sounded like a different engine. I went for a little drive and was well impressed I think it was Purdy who gave the heads up on them Thanks Purdy .

The truck has had modern points on it since I bought it 15 years ago ,so then I fitted a new set of Motocraft modern points .I could not get the truck to run more than a minute or two with them,I kept re adjusting and resetting the timing, then one more try finnally got it going took it for a drive and it conked out three times in the street in front of the house.just seemed to be getting an intermittent spark .I managed to limp back into the garage without it stalling again , I put an old set of modern points on it and it cranked right up and ran fine.

So I am wondering is it me or is there some real Quality problem with the Modern Mexican Motorcraft points? Does anyone have good luck with them?

John Cochran

[Tom Wesenberg]

When I worked at the GM dealership in the 70's about 5 to 10% of the points wouldn't work right, and they were in foil sealed boxes. I suspect some oil got on the contacts, or someone at the factory touched them and left skin oils on the surface.

[Patrick L.]

Like Tom says, so clean the contacts if they look decent. That was common practice back in the day, the contacts should be cleaned before start up. Used to clean them and set with a dwell meter. If adjusting manually[ feeler], adjust, then clean well.
There has been a lot of complaints about the 'new' points and condensers. The best I have found are at NAPA and are quite expensive, but, I haven't had any problems with them.

[Rex_A_Lott]

I finally made it out to the shop, and these are the numbers I use in the one I have converted:
CS755- points
FA82 - condenser
These are NAPA Echlin numbers. Stay away from the cheap junk.

I guess I've just been lucky ( knock on wood), but this stuff works for me, in the distributor I fixed myself. I also have another car with the original set up that works good.
I recently took out a modern setup that was F'ed up and went back with a complete "new" old style distributor, thinking it should last me a long time. Once I get the one I took out straight , I should have a good spare.
Be sure to check that you are getting consistent gaps on every lobe of your point cam. The one that I had was different every time it fired and the new points only lasted about 100 miles after I got the "new to me" car home and started driving it.
I hope you can get by with a simple point/condenser replacement.
Keep in mind, no matter which setup you use, you will probably need to go back and reset the gap after you drive it a bit and the rubbing block wears in. You'll know, cause the time will be retarded and it will run like its in a bind. If you run it like this long, it will burn the new points up, cause the gap is too small.
I dont have any experience with the Modern Motorcraft brand.
Good Luck!

[juke joint johnny]

Thanks Tom & Patrick

The contacts on these points are unusual to me not the black carbon material, very shiney almost like they are plated with something, maybe there is some special cleaning process on them that I don't know.

The vendor who sells them say's they are the best Quality available ,
They do look well made and at$15.each are not the chepest either

[juke joint johnny]

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Thanks Rex a lot
Unfortunarely We don't seem to get the napa products here

[Mike V. Florida]

Originally Posted by juke joint johnny

So I am wondering is it me or is there some real Quality problem with the Modern Mexican Motorcraft points? Does anyone have good luck with them?

John Cochran

Quality, Remember these "modern" points are for cars from the 70's.

[Kurt in NJ]

Originally Posted by juke joint johnny

Thanks Tom & Patrick

The contacts on these points are unusual to me not the black carbon material, very shiney almost like they are plated with something, maybe there is some special cleaning process on them that I don't know.

The vendor who sells them say's they are the best Quality available ,
They do look well made and at$15.each are not the chepest either

the new Bosch points are like that too ---the first 2 times I used them the car got towed back soon, had to remove that plating, the next time I cleaned up the old points and relubed them --every repro points plate (original,or modern type) I have looked at I considered a "GYP" part ---ebvery one I have looked at the center hole is stamped with rough edges, a very coarse finish, the original plates have a smooth accurate ground finish ---the close fit between the plate and dist housing keeps the dwell(point gap) constant with timing changes ---the method of "peining" can make the fit tighter, but the bearing surface will have a small contact area and cause small points of localized wear on the dist housing unless the peining makes the hole much smaller and then machined to give full contact surface.

[johnbuckley]

Likewise I've had problems with some "modern" points. Might even revert to original; are they better quality or is it just pot luck?

[Tom Wesenberg]

The contacts on the points should be made from tungsten, which usually has a dull light grey look, but maybe EPA determined if you look at tungsten you will go blind, so they outlawed it.

[Kevin in NJ]

I have noticed different qualities on the point tungsten.

I have a variety of vintage points including NOS Ford and NOS 'gyp' parts.

The points I pulled out of used distributers that were Standard or Ford script had nice shiny tungsten.
The no name points and the NOS gyp points had this fuzzy white look on the tungsten. Some kind of oxide is my guess.

FWIW, most of the name brand used points would likely run your car fine for the next 40 years or more.

[john in illinois]

I found Motorcraft V8 new style model A points were not well made. I use Accel points and condenser. More money but quality built USA.

John