You said you don't like the cap/rotor quality, what about it ?   The carbon keeps melting

I would Check the rotor where the carbon pin rests on, is it aligned, clean, dry and smooth ? I've tried three rotors all were new

Does it have good spring pressure ? It moves up and down ? Does the carbon move at all ?  The carbon does NOT move at all on the TSP caps.  Only the contact on the rotor has movement.   The Carbon Contact on MSD cap has some spring movement.  I have NOT installed this one yet.

Does the distributor have Excessive Shaft End Play ? If the shaft moves up and down too much, it can crush the carbon pin or cause inconsistent contact.  Maybe 1/16" doesn't look to be excessive This was measured with the distributor out of the car

Rotor/Cap Mismatch, is it the correct cap ? Not all rotors and caps are compatible, even if they look similar. An incorrect rotor height can exert too much pressure on the spring-loaded pin, causing it to wear prematurely.  Up until this point ALL Rotors and Caps are new from TSP

Is there good grounds connecting battery, car and engine ?  Negative battery cable goes directly to block.  Ignition ground goes to intake manifold bolt

Correct gap for spark plugs, too big can burn the carbon.  Plugs are relatively new and gapped to .034

I'm starting to not like aftermarket ignition parts, I have a Mallory Unilite setup in my Thunderbird, it will shut off at idle (sometimes) then it will restart and not do it again for a while, I've had many problems with the china made parts, Even the MSD parts have caused me problems (long term not short term).

A friend with a four cylinder antique motorcycle had similar problem and found carbon used was too soft.

It appears that maybe there are issues with the secondary ignition system. Some of the above excellent suggestions regarding off-shore poor quality and mismatched caps and rotors on a particular distributor are top on the list. With a depth caliper, measure the distance from the cap where it seats on the distributor to the carbon brush.  Then measure same from the strib to the rotor contact spring to get an proximate idea of how high or low the rotor resides within the cap. Since it's the carbon brush that's being destroyed, a gap there would create arcing voltage which would cause very high temperatures there.   If the rotor is positioned too high it probably would come in contact with the upper cap and tower conductors also.  As one stated above, I too have had my share of issues with aftermarket ignition components and systems. After an MSD 6A box failure, I converted my 64 truck to a Ford Duraspark system that performs flawlessly but that's a subject for another thread....

64F100 57FAIRLANE500

Have you checked to ensure that the metal tension strap on the rotor is high enough?  When installing the cap, you should feel the spring tension of the rotor strap before the cap is fully in place.  Ford Deaborn makes a good suggestion in measuring the height of the installed rotor versus the depth within the cap.

MSD has had an issue in the past with the spring tensioned strap on the rotor not being high enough to contact the center pole of the cap.  If there is an air gap present between the rotor and the cap, then erosion of the caps’ center contact can occur and even more so with some of the high output ignition systems.  The same issue can occur on MSD clone distributors.  When this is found, simply bend the strap so it’s higher.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

The post adjacent the "JA" letters being 1, in a CW direction note post 3. There is evidence of the rotor tip riding high scraping/chaffing the cap and brass post. There is for sure rotor position issues. There also appears to be a lot of carbon deposits particularly at the left area of the cap. 

64F100 57FAIRLANE500

If anything I was thinking it might be too high.  You can see a witness mark on the rotor.


This my 3rd cap that was on the car for maybe 200 miles with the TSP coil.  It looks like 50% of  the button is already gone    

Gentlemen,

You are beating yourselves to death.

Supposedly all of these off-shore junk distributors are a supposed GM - HEI SERIES COPY.

I know one manufacturer's ICM can be interchanged directly with a genuine AC DELO module. If that is so, it may be the cap style(s) is interchangeable also.

Possibly buy a GENUINE DELCO or STANDARD IGNITION (at the least) cap-rotor (integral or non-integral coil style) and check the fit. You are fighting junk parts.

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[quote]KULTULZ (4/20/2026)

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Just about all ignition coils are made in China. Got an original distributor? The replacement points, condenser, and cap most likely are made in China as well. Although I've not seen anyone post a problem with condensers lately, it wasn't long ago that numerous complaints were posted on several forums. The FAST coil that I purchased was made in Tennessee. Is it better? We'll see. MSD/Mallory/Holley also making parts in China. 

Most fuel pumps, whether mechanical or electric, are also made in China. There have been a lot of complaints about them, too. 

Just about all ignition coils are made in China. Got an original distributor? The replacement points, condenser, and cap most likely are made in China as well. Although I've not seen anyone post a problem with condensers lately, it wasn't long ago that numerous complaints were posted on several forums. The FAST coil that I purchased was made in Tennessee. Is it better? We'll see. MSD/Mallory/Holley also making parts in China.

I'm sorry, I thought CAP and ROTOR was the discussion topic on this thread.

If one is still using mechanical points in this day and age ...

FORD NOS points can be found online. The condenser is still available from FORD.

A quality CAP & ROTOR are for the most part made here. It all depends on market demand and the cost to the vendor. Most consumers shop by price and not quality.  If low demand, it is cheaper to source off-shore as it is very expensive to manufacture here, especially low demand components.

Even if a quality service part, whether MOTORCRAFT or DELCO is manufactured off-shore, it will be a better quality part than made by an off-shore manufacturer if made to the vendors (sellers) standards. The parts vendor can choose what quality of the part he chooses to be made. Off-shore manufacturing is only meeting their (vendor) stated stated standards, not industry.

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