Knowing that 'Easy Bake' was overdue for a tune up and I had a Blue Streak Cap and Standard rotor languishing in my tool box I went ahead and did it. Good thing I did.









However the plugs looked okay save for some slight erosion

 

Haven't see a Dist Cap for a long time, but I don't remember them looking like that..........LOL

 

Wow! Have seen a few caps and rotors kinda worn out but rarely this bad. Looks like there was some serious voltage running through those.

Any idea how many miles were on those?

 

Judging from the plug gaps and the erosion in the cap, looks like you went about 100K since the last tuneup. Hope you went with the brass terminal cap for the new one. The aluminum caps don't go long til they look like your old one.

 

Keep that cap, it says Made In The USA, it's antique.

 

Man, it's been a LONG time since I had a vehicle with an actual distributor on it. I don't miss them much. At least you don't have points on which you have to set the gap.

I'm guessing the van will run a lot better with the new parts on it.

George

 

I have points, been driving 2 years without incident with it, bought it 4 years ago and not touched them to be exact.

 

Man, I remember having to change points, plugs, cap, and rotor once a year. It's certainly possible that points are lasting longer these days with newer ignition designs. I remember filing points as well, playing with (and rebuilding) carburetors in my old drag racing (and general driving) days. I don't long for the old days very much.

George

 

I have an HEI to go in, last time I tried it, I couldn't get it to set all the way in, was either the o-ring, or those thermostat vacuum switches, so when I get the thermostat housing off to put in a new t-stat, I'm getting rid of the one in it, going with a plug, then going to try it again. I have to run a new ignition wire, to get rid of the resistor on it, give the coil 12 volts.

 

Actually this IS an electronic ignition (ie no points) Ford's EEC-1 (the same ignition box is in my '78 Jeep CJ)

Roughly 60k miles on it by my records and that buildup (rather than erosion) had continuity, must be a form of carbon. That cap and rotor are Standard ~ Blue Streak parts, no longer available in my area having to drive 50+ miles to find. The gap on the plugs .44 is correct for the '81 300cid motor. Just for fun I checked the used plugs and they were all close.

 

The plug gaps looked twice that measurement. That buildup is metal being passed back and forth between the terminals.

 

You must not put many miles on it, combined with a really good set of points. Put a dwell meter on it and see just how "right" they're set.

 

Baddad, the scale of the photo may seem to show a broader gap but it checked out with my feeler gauge. .45 - .47 between the six plugs.