OK, other things I know about but not this.

Can somebody school me on Presolite distributors ?

How are they different from the aluminum Mopar "standard" distributors ?

Are they more heavy duty, are they all dual point, what makes them inherently better or are they really not any better per se ?

Why are they considered so desirable ?

Prestolite made ignition products for both Ford and Chrysler, not just Chrysler Corp.
I think they made OEM parts for Ford before getting Chrysler Corp. as a customer also

Most of the flathead era mopars run prestolite distributors, my 51 has one. Nothing special about it though, just a single points unit.

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/chrysler-prestolite-distributors

For the mopar years we usually talk about, the Autolite who became prestolite are dual point cast iron distributors. This allowed the dwell to be increased since one point fired the coil, and the second one closed before the firing point set closed to start recharging the coil. So, by increasing dwell, you had better coil saturation to support higher rpm ignition.

The plate also rotated on ball bearings so less timing spark scatter.

Late 60s there are some look alike presotilite cast distributors, but they are single point and not specifically prestolite made. So, I assume chrysler did this for some reason.
So the High performance cars got dual point.

Dual points I understand, so that is the biggest Prestolite advantage ?

R & D most likely ran several different distributors before determining which worked best for their application and then to the higher ups to negotiate contracts. Some offerings were losers (hemi's) and I doubt they put in anything else but what worked best.
It was not uncommon for owners to replace factory with mallory's. Some v8 mallory's had 4 lobe shafts running two sets of points (each set "sparking" 4 plugs). This greatly increasing the amount
energy stored by the condenser to be delivered to the plugs.

The condenser was there to minimize points erosion due to arcing across them. It had nothing to do with energy delivered to the plugs.

The coil is what determined the energy delivered to the plugs. We are talking about OEM ignitions systems, not a CD setup which is what I think you are thinking about. Capacitor ad condenser are two terms for the same thing.

Prestolite used to be the supplier for all of Chrysler's distributors and as Chrysler transitioned to making their own I suspect they contacted out to Prestolite the oddball stuff that Chrysler didn't want to tool up for, like dual points or mechanical tach drive distributors. Nothing special about it, imo. Once electronic ignition became standard Chrysler had no need for oddball stuff and kept it all in house.

Lots of singe point Prestolite dists out there.
Mostly early 60s and back

afaik, ALL were iron bodied.
Chrysler Dists were aluminum bodied, none dual point that I can think of

[quote=gtx6970
Chrysler Dists were aluminum bodied, none dual point that I can think of [/quote] Have you seen any stock iron dual point distributors for 426 M.W. and 426 street Hemi and 340?
I have
Lots of them in fact, all OEM HP BB Mopars from 1960 to around 1971 in the six pack and street hemi motors and 340 motors
Some had tach drives and some didn't

Prestolite/Autolite supplied electrical components for a lot of the "orphan cars" that didn't make the stuff in house. You'll also find a lot of Delco (GM) electrics in orphan cars.

Exactly the reason I haunt all the local Studebaker swap meets. There's gold in them there hills.....

Have you seen any stock iron dual point distributors for 426 M.W. and 426 street Hemi and 340?
I have
Lots of them in fact, all OEM HP BB Mopars from 1960 to around 1971 in the six pack and street hemi motors and 340 motors
Some had tach drives and some didn't [/quote]


I never said they didnt . Did you even read what you quoted.?

BUT have you seen any Chrysler produced aluminum bodied dist that were dual point ?
Yet every dual point dist I ever seen was iron bodied made by Prestolite , And yes some Prestolite dists were single point , but still iron bodied


Ps, mechanical tach cable drives are race car applications and I believe MAYBE some later 50-early 60s street car / off road / marine applications used a cable driven tach

My 64 300 had a mechanical tach drive distributor. Had the 360hp 413 in it, not the 390hp version. No tach though, so I suspect it was simple a matter of all dual points had a mechanical tach drive by that point? Another possibility was that in the 24 years from the time it was built till I bought it someone swapped it in, lol.

No those 300 Letter cars did use the tach drive distributors.

Besides dual points, that bearing plate I mentioned vice pivoting on a stud, also the prestolite vacuum cans could be customized easier. Until Chrysler went to their sealed version in 69.

I should have clarified, mine was a Sport Series, iow a non letter car.

I posted wrong info on the condenser purpose.
I looked back on my notes from the guy I got the Mallory and think the 4 lobe was to half the use of the point contacts and reduce the chance of point bounce at high rpm.

The 69 383 big block powered A bodies had a prestolite dual point also , and I believe 70 was the last year for the 340 dual point ?

Funny you mention that, I developed an electronic ignition conversion for the Studebaker Prestolite distributor using the guts from a SB Mopar aluminum electronic distributor. Amazing amount of interchangeability...weights, governor, breaker plate and even the vacuum advance are pretty near a drop-in interchange, just had to tweak the phasing of the reluctor to make it work.

i possess the log ram intake[s] and linkage, the exhaust manifolds, and the distributor from a 300F.
the distributor is an iron, dual point, mechanical tach drive unit.
all these items are factory issue to the above car. they were acquired during my junkyard ownership days when this particular car was scrapped, and it was locally owned and well known at the time as being factory correct.
it was scrapped because it had been kicked outside to rot for many, many years, and was very rusty.

As stated above, my old 1964 300K (360hp four barrel car) had the cast iron dual point with tach drive, but the car did not have the tach.

One of the more interesting (maybe dumb) place I've seen a tach drive cable come off of was the generator in a late 1950s Vette.