Coil and condenser testing
 

A buddy of mine has had some intermittent reliability issues with his v8 '38 Ford. So today he brought his coil and a couple of condensers over to test. The coil tested great and the condensers good, although a new replacement condenser was way above specification at .500mfd. I'm told the spec calls for .33 - .36mfd. Each condenser was run on the tester with the coil in the operating circuit. Both worked, but we could see the difference in the spark jump when the out of spec condenser was in the circuit. I was actually surprised the coil fired well with the way above repro spec condenser.

Condensers and coils are heat sensitive. This tester has a function that pre-heats the coil. We used this and the coil still tested good. As I told him, the tester will identify a bad coil or condenser, but it cannot identify a good one with 100% certainty. Most of the condensers available today are of dubious quality and are often the cause of road side grief.

Does anyone make a high quality V8 condenser like the A&L condenser made for model As?

Re: Coil and condenser testing
 

Hunt's Magnetos has a great condenser at 32mfd. It is not a direct replacement but is quite easy to adapt to your need. I have been using these for years with zero issue.

Re: Coil and condenser testing
 

Do you have a part number? I see they have several. Do you solder the bracket onto it?

Re: Coil and condenser testing
 

Kube, is this the Hunt magneto condensor that you normally use?

Re: Coil and condenser testing
 

John, Nope, I use the 36mfd unit. On the 37 - 41 coil application I do solder an authentic bracket to it and hide the wire lead. If it is a restoration, I go one step further and place an authentic condenser shell over the Hunt unit.
The 32 - 36 coils make it easy to hide the wire.

Hunts: Price:$36.65, SKU:3210M

Re: Coil and condenser testing
 

Thanks - I was wondering if it would stand up to the soldering temps without damage.