Re: Dual point distributor in '41 120

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2008/4/2 7:37:10

Dual point conversion kits were pretty popular items some decades back for "hopping" up performance; one tradename I recall is "DynaPlate" which we installed in our 54 Hudson and a number of Packards. Was there an improvement in performance - yes but slight. But to my knowledge the last Packard that had factory dual points was the 1939 Twelve. Eights and Super Eights used dual points, in 33-34 with dual coils, and with single coils thru 1936 and perhaps a year or two later. I'm sure the distributor you have was modified with a conversion kit at some point.

The dual point setup with dual coils (33-34) worked entirely different that the later dual point "hop up" kits; in these cases you also had a double-ended rotor and each set of points controlled only 4 cylinders with the firing order alternating back and forth across the distributor cap as alternate ends of the rotor fired sequentially. The later setups like Chrysler in the 60s etc. is "conventional" dual point setup and used the second set of points to allow the coils to energize almost immediately after discharging by closing the primary to the coil with the second set, thus not having to wait for the first set to close. Thus only one set was actually responsible for ignition and timing, and the other provided an increase in dwell. In the case of the 33-34, both sets needed to be timed individually, and thus synchronized.