Back again...more questions... the mallory dual point cap was replaced I did notice I had 2 capacitors one on the coil and 1 on the dist body should their be two??? And also if they are bad would that cause the misfiring under the cap at the center button( see pics in previous post) thx crankit

 

The one on the coil is connected to the positive side and is a filter for radio interference, the one at the distributor is for the ignition and is connected on the negative side. When the ignition capacitor goes, the motor will run like crap, backfire, or not run at all.

 

I had a suspicion that was how it worked going back to cars I owned in the 70's but this one was put together by previous owners and schematics show ballast resistor and other goodies in the ignition circuit....mine seems straight normal wiring...if engine is grounded to frame or body is this sufficient for the mallory dual point(with no vac advance on the dist)???? Thanks again ...crankit

 

The engine is grounded to the negative side of the battery through the battery cable. It does not get any better than that. The mallory dual point is a great distributor when equipped with heavy duty points, their condenser, and the dwell set right. I'm assuming that the ballast resister is replacing the factory resistance wire, you don't need both. The bypass wire from the starter R terminal needs to go directly to the coil + terminal.

 

Thanks for the info...I cant understand how the car was running looking at the way the cap is burnt..did all gm (olds) have a resistance wire from factory???

 

GM cars, including Olds, normally had a resistance wire in these years. Other manufacturers still used a separate ballast resistor.

They are equivalent.

You didn't mention it, but any points installation should have a yellow wire from the "R" terminal on the starter solenoid to the coil positive (same terminal that the resistance wire connects to).

It's purpose is to deliver a full 12 volts while cranking to give a stronger spark.

 

From my experience with non hei distributors, the cap center post generally burns up if the coil wire didn't fit tight in it.

 

Thanks vc455 I will check on the wire from the r terminal pretty sure its there... could be the cheap set of wires isnt connecting completely with the coil plug???? I will give it a look tomorrow....thanks
.crankit

 

New mallory cap came in and has a spring loaded looks like carbon tip which was none existant or burnt off??? Waiting on the rotor and resistor...had to go online and order everything local stores looked at me like I had 6 eyes when I said dual point mallory ohh well just showing my age I guess...crankit