I just got in the mail today a points set, Delco Remy D-106ps. they were $14 ship included from Chicago carburetor. they look great, came in the original completely unopened packaging spare a tiny hole in the side probably from storage or shipping. the spring is firm, the contacts are spotless and look great, and its almost solid metal construction. they are definitely very old, probably from late 60s early 70s and are in great shape for their age, I cant wait to put them in when it stops raining (get those made in mexico napa points which ran me $25 outta there, the delco ones seem much better quality tighter spring and all)

I also had gotten the relay for the warning light which is a separate part on this car which is specific to the '60-'63 model years. there was some sort of strange aftermarket one on it which I could not find no matter how hard I tried, so the actual Delco Remy part was my only option of replacement. it now works great, the relay was like $120 but again in original packaging, solid metal case, fully functions, and is bulletproof compared to the small plastic looking things they make today.

I do understand those electrical type parts which were shelved for 40+years are questionable at best and I lucked out, and points are points long as contacts are clean and spring has tension, but original Delco Remy products are not only built tough as nails, they are shining examples of what this country used be and I thoroughly enjoy opening up 40 year old packages and mounting the proper parts my olds deserves. How about you guys, do any of you feel the same or purchase these original parts?

 

+1 all the way.

Old Stock parts are the way to go. A huge portion of the new stuff is crap.

- Eric

 

i have installed a properly stored nos delco master cylinder repair kit and brake hose...i will take proper stored 40 year old parts over a brand new chineese parts any day. i am proud of the fact i spend more money on parts and some say its questionable but you would be hard pressed to find any over sea asian parts in my proudly made in USA car

 

I bought some nos Mallory points
from R-body Mopar on this site and
couldn't have been happier with the
perfomance. When they do wear out
I will keep the spring for sure.

 

I have a 62 Dynamic 88 and cannot picture in my mind the relay to which you are referring. Where is it located? What warning light? Do you have a photo of it?

Thanks -

 

It is very difficult, if not impossible, to find anything today comparable to what was made "back in the day"!




Glad you like those points tru-blue! Those were the only ones I ever used in my Olds' since 1963.....never had a problem!

 

Ditto, pogo69......nothing today is made like they were back then...

It's too bad this country cannot go back to the pride in workmanship that everybody had years ago.....

 

Dave, I'm pretty sure he means the unique alternator light relay, which was subsequently incorporated into the regulator.

- Eric

 

I know people like to fire up the nostalgia and be all "everything was better made in the old days," but it's simply not that black and white. Many things today are superior to yesteryear, engines, firearms, computers, displays, fire extinguishers, etc, etc.

What IS different is the price. Inflation hits everything, and people don't see that a set of points that cost the same now from China as they did from the USA in the 70s, must be of worse quality to turn a profit. Materials will be lesser, as will the labor it. Were one to look for quality US points at an appropriate price level (whatever the inflation is...four to five times, maybe), I am sure they could be found.

In fact, rockauto has AC Delco new ones, but they're 14 dollars over the 2 dollars of the cheapies. Buy the expensive ones, be happy.

 

I hate to say this, but the new AC Delco ones aren't nearly as well made as the old Delco Remy ones.

- Eric

 

this is true, they are forced to compete with the status quo and that is cheap prices which means cheap materials and labor

 

well we can get all technical and political about why delco changed and how far technology has come, but the point was to say that on a 60s gm car, Delco Remy is the proper replacement given you have a quality part that was stored correctly.

However I will say Ive always felt that the problem lay not in having to compete with cheaper outsourced labor and using inferior materials, but rather in how America obtains its materials and how domestic labor costs are inflated. back then we extracted all the oil and natural rubber and steel and rarer metals like chromium from all over the world, those men who ran the big picture at the time understood it was so important, existential even that we dominated those world markets. and for the labor, the workers today say 'we need more money, your gvt fails us so our dollar is worth less therefore we need more more more for less work hours, on top of healthcare, such and the like' and even after they get it they still strike outside the factory, no wonder they had to almost fully automate the few plants left here, they don't fall down in an icy parking lot and sue. today people are only concerned about $, $, and more $ for the least amount of work possible and that's why Americas losing. Oh yea, and the kids of my generation are all brainwashed, league of legends video game playing, Mitsubishi driving retards.

 

^^^+1

 

o yea, and D.Yaros, it looks like this, next to the horn relay wired to the lamp in the dash, alternator, and regulator, warning light relay.. maybe yours doesn't have it and my years are off, but I know 63s have em. I don't have a pic of the Delco part I replaced it with the one in that pic is another off brand I tried which didn't work, but delco one was the correct part and it works good now. I remember in that thread a few guys said to wire it differently and use a later model volt regulator to eliminate this setup cause it is more prone to failure and is probably why it never caught on but hey if its how they built it its how I fix it.

 

I like the old OE parts also they always show up in an old crusty box, most with an old IBM punch card on the out side. They are always way more HD and perfect than any aftermarket or rebuilt stuff.

 

Thanks for the photo. I guess the reason I am having trouble picturing it is, my Dynamic 88 does not have one. Should it? My warning lamps (GEN TEMP OIL) work, to my knowledge.

 

Do you have a generator or an alternator?

- Eric

 

well what happens I think is if it is a restored car the enthusiast or mechanics restoring it (maybe even unknowingly) rewire the car with the later type regulator and the R-relay post on the back of the alternator runs straight to the regulator with no relay in between, or even puts a different Chevrolet style horn relay/regulator setup on it. I had a thread going all about it, MDchanic told me about a website called wildaboutcars.com which had a factory service manual which would show you exactly how your model was wired from the factory. This was definitely the original setup for my model and year as the manual shows, im not sure on a 62. wasn't a very popular setup, and was only used in GM and Pontiac full sized cars for like 2-3 years before that part became obsolete. Similarly, the roto-hydramatic slim jim also appears to be pretty unpopular amongst olds guys I meet on here and at shows, Olds could be pretty experimental at times I guess.

 

I worked for a Buick dealer from 1964 (right after I got out of high school) to 1966 (when I went in the USAF). I was in the parts department. There are a few part number i still remember to this day.
1931988 external adjustment point set
1932004 condenser

This was before the uniset cam along. There are two other part numbers I still remember but they are for Buicks only.

 

My 63 has the same relay. And, just as an FYI, I replaced my original electro-mechanical voltage regulator with a MasterPro 2-VR4 from Orileys 4 years ago. Yes, the box says it's made in China. I hate that, but I have to say for $22 it hasn't skipped a beat since I installed it. Solid state design in this case is the way to go IMO. Just plug and play. And, it looks just like the original externally.

 

yea I will admit about the regulators, I bought a napa Echlin USA regulator, fried itself in 2 months, got it warranteed, did it again 2 months later, NAPA says im beat this time 'must have been my installation'. I got a borg warner made in china (and it doesn't have those coils in the back, must be internal) and its been goin strong for the past 4 months. it didn't do that burny 'break in' where the coils singe themselves for the first time, maybe this design is just better or the factories here in US are full of incompetent laborers anymore.

(although standard makes a similar one, for a lesser price, but almost none of the parts stores carry standard near me and the one that does tries to sell me a part that looks like it was put in and returned 3 times, regulators with burnt coils and scratches on the posts for $60 (cuz no1 around here walks in and says 'let me get an ignition condenser and voltage regulator' so they push crap on me, and I woulda ordered another one but screw them try to take me for a fool you wont get a penny outta me again). I found a USA made one for $15 on ebay which looks the same as the one I got and says it fits my model, will do soon before summer.

 

Since the dawn of time auto parts have always been a crap shoot. It does not matter what brand, where it came from, or cost. I can see possibly buying NOS parts with the exception of rubber wear items as they are age sensitive.


Remember all electrical components contain smoke, when they crack open and let the smoke out they ain't no good no more. Some parts have better quality smoke than others.

 

I guess I can agree to the nostalgic part of this conversation, but I wouldn't put a 40 year old hose on any car I plan to haul my family around in.

Almost thinking the same thing on the electrical parts although in some cases we don't have new replacements available.

Keep a good fire extinguisher handy. I guess that's good advice in any case.

Cheers.

 

If this is directed to me, I have a generator. Is the relay in question for use on cars with alternators? That would explain its absence on my ride.

 

Im actually not sure about the alt/gen difference, I honestly think it went on both systems, I think its more likely these things got changed if the charging system on your car was worked on or restored.

 

Ayup.

That'd be it.

Generators have a different setup.

- Eric

 

I was off, but of course like i said before the manual is always the best bet when you have a question on a stock setup, MD showed me wildaboutcars.com, free and helped a lot.

I dropped my points in, and lubed the cam with some white lithium grease, along with a standard motor condenser. Car starts/runs noticeably better. I notice the adjustment screw on the delco points set is much more firm than the napa ones I used before keeping that inner contact nice and steady. the dwell used to jump more than a degree when I hit the throttle good, now its around .4 or so very little. did it pay off? for $18 and the results, id say.

 

Count that one solved. Thanks!

 

Well, you better get use to it. EVERYTHING is made over seas but its boxed in USA. I have a HEI module from Standard and its made in Singapore. Go figure.

 

My last set of points (chinaism) lasted the whole of 4000 miles before they gave it up because on the plastic fiber wore down till the points were almost closed. I didn't install this set(I just got out of the hospital) but they were very tinny, thin cheap looking piece o crap and could have caused me much grief as I am planing on a long road trip and lucky they gave it up before I was to leave....Tedd

 

yea at first the guy at the parts store gave me an $8 set that looked absurdly cheap and fragile with teeny tiny contacts (even though the delco sets contacts aren't very big either and I know the size isn't very important but these ones were like microscopic). I understand its a consumable part but I mean that's pushing it. On these old cars the points/timing is like 50% of the whole cars ability to run, and its definitely noticeable putting in a quality NOS replacement for $7 more.

 

One thing i dont understand is why are YOU buying parts that is made in China? Blame YOURSELF for buying it.

 

Well Ely, I never bought china in the first place, I actually bought the same napa model points that were in the car when I got it to replace em, which ran $25 and seemed to be a sturdy pair (made in mexico) better than the china ones they offered me, but even these ones had a weak adjustment screw which I think is why these Delco ones work much better. I tried to buy a quality non-china part and it still pretty much failed me. in all reality, to the converse of that, I bought a napa Echlin USA volt regulator, fried 2 of em before I went with a borg warner china regulator, car runs everyday now and im still trying to warranty the napa regulator but no stores around here had one its on order right now. I don't know who to buy from anymore, that's why I buy 30 year old products from an old manufactory I trust.