[KGBnut]

My grandfather was mechanic from the dawn of the automotive age. He worked mostly for Buick, but could fix anything. He also had a reputation as being an absolute wiz with ignition systems.

My father is also a great mechanic, but never really did it professionally. Recently, Pop was telling me about the first Doodlebug he built when he was about 13 years old. The engine and chassis were out of a 1919 Overland (which I think later became part of Willys). This was during the war and parts for anything were hard to find, especially a 20+ year old obscure car. It needed ignition points and none were to be found. So, my grandfather build a set of point by modifying ones from something else (probably a Buick). He also modified it to have two condensers, one at the distributor and one at the coil.

Does anyone have any experience with this kind of set up? Can you explain why two condensers, and why one would be at the coil? I have heard that if the capacitance is too low, one side of the points will burn, and if it is too high that the other side will burn, so, was he just trying to get that balanced right? Why one at the coil?

I sure wish Grandpop was still around to ask.

Ken