Go Back   The Ford Barn > General Discussion > Early V8 (1932-53)

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Prev Previous Post   Next Post Next
Old 04-21-2025, 10:05 AM   #5
tubman
Senior Member
 
tubman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Minnesota, Florida Keys
Posts: 11,638
Default Re: Condenser capacitance.

The ideal capacitance of the condenser depends on the inductance of the coil and the overall use of the car. Somewhere, I have a page out of an official Ford publication that listed a variety of condensers available from Ford before the war (similar to Terry, above). It also said that the higher speed that an engine is run, the higher the capacitance it needs. (I have the image somewhere on this computer and will try to find it.) This is why the old Mallory "trash cans" and the currently available Vertex magneto condensers are rated at .28 to .36 micro-farads. If you have changed your coil out for a more modern version, you probably need condenser in the lower mid-twenties range)
.

In real life, the actual capacitance really isn't that important as long as it's close. When I was developing my "trash can" replacements. we initially used anything we had handy; the engines ran fine on anything from .047 microfarads up to .5 microfarads. The only difference is the effect it has on point wear, and it takes a long time to figure out what that is. As to voltage, condensers don't care; they are however, sensitive to voltage spikes and heat. A generator can raise hell with a condenser that doesn't have a high enough voltage rating.

EDIT : Here's the chart I referenced earlier :
Attached Images
File Type: jpg FordCondenserValues.jpg (63.5 KB, 33 views)

Last edited by tubman; 04-21-2025 at 08:59 PM.
tubman is offline   Reply With Quote
 


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:07 AM.