Ford flathead V8 faulty distributor points

[Tony Wheeler]

Has anyone ever seen broken springs on distributor points? I've driven old cars all my life and I've never known these springs to fail, but lately I've seen it on three different flatheads. The first example is seen in pic 1, but when I first saw these springs I assumed they had simply rusted away and snapped under their own tension. The second example is seen in pic 2, and I assumed this to be an extremely rare failure which had occurred in service long before I bought the truck, which had not run since the 1960s. The third example is seen in pics 3 & 4, and this occurred today when I went to start my road vehicle, which was running perfectly when I last drove it 3 months ago. It failed to fire at all, so presumably the critical spring broke as soon as I hit the starter button. These motors will run perfectly on one set of points, provided it's the set which fires the plugs. The other set merely increases dwell slightly and can be dispensed with entirely, as Ford did after 1949. Of course, if the dwell set is fitted and the spring breaks in service it will spring back onto the distributor body, as seen in these pics, and if it makes sufficient electrical contact the coil will receive constant current. That would suggest both springs may have broken today, although I can't imagine what would cause them to break at the same time, unless perhaps it's temperature related.

Irrespective of precisely when these springs broke it's clear there's a problem with these particular points, which are NOS replacement parts installed by me last year. I can't recall where I bought them but they're stamped "F. Claudet Ltd England" and I've found an old company poster from the 1950s. It's possible the other two trucks were fitted with the same brand of points, as they have certain distinctive features in common. Certainly they're of the same vintage and they're bound to be English make, because that's all we received in Australia under the old Commonwealth arrangements. In any case I'm now convinced they all failed in service and neither vehicle was repaired. It's a difficult fault to diagnose so perhaps the owners lost interest and gave up. You simply don't suspect the distributor when a motor suddenly stops working, especially if you've recently fitted new points like I had. Besides, no one relishes the idea of working on flathead distributors!

Anyway I'd be interested to know if anyone else has encountered spring failure in distributor points, and if not, why it should occur in these particular points. Of course, it's yet another reason to fit an electronic breaker plate, which I should have done when I first put this truck on the road.


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