Dist Cap Options

Asking for a friend, my friend dyno'd her car with a distributor cap that has brass terminals, it was a parts store non performance replacement cap. Brass is a poor conductor of electricity compared to aluminum, I am worried that if she puts a cap on the car with alum terminals that she will pick up too much HP compared to her dyno with the brass cap.
Her understanding of the rules were that she could get a stock replacement part from the parts store and that it would be legal, it has been clarified that is not the case. What should I advise her to do?

Also, what if she goes to get a stock replacement ball joint and that manufacture is different than OEM so it changes the geometry slightly, does she need to measure an OE ball joint within .001 to verify the part store stock replacement joint is the same?

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Originally Posted by mach1

Asking for a friend, my friend dyno'd her car with a distributor cap that has brass terminals, it was a parts store non performance replacement cap. Brass is a poor conductor of electricity compared to aluminum, I am worried that if she puts a cap on the car with alum terminals that she will pick up too much HP compared to her dyno with the brass cap.
Her understanding of the rules were that she could get a stock replacement part from the parts store and that it would be legal, it has been clarified that is not the case. What should I advise her to do?

Also, what if she goes to get a stock replacement ball joint and that manufacture is different than OEM so it changes the geometry slightly, does she need to measure an OE ball joint within .001 to verify the part store stock replacement joint is the same?

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I've been told by directors in the past that distributor caps are effectively "wiring" and are open. For example, the MSD distributor cap for the LT1 is well known to be legal but the MSD distributor is not. Among other things, the MSD distributor adds adjustable timing, and that is evil. Except for the cars that have it. And, of course, for the other cars that we allow to have it. Other than that, it's evil.

To get by all of this questionable stuff, we are converting the Silver car to not have a distributor. Therefore, it will not be possible for us to be determined to have an illegal distributor cap. That will definitely make us sleep better. Unfortunately, the car won't be ready for the next event so we will debut the less questionably legal car next year...


Richard P.

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Originally Posted by mach1

Asking for a friend, my friend dyno'd her car with a distributor cap that has brass terminals, it was a parts store non performance replacement cap. Brass is a poor conductor of electricity compared to aluminum, I am worried that if she puts a cap on the car with alum terminals that she will pick up too much HP compared to her dyno with the brass cap.
Her understanding of the rules were that she could get a stock replacement part from the parts store and that it would be legal, it has been clarified that is not the case. What should I advise her to do?

Also, what if she goes to get a stock replacement ball joint and that manufacture is different than OEM so it changes the geometry slightly, does she need to measure an OE ball joint within .001 to verify the part store stock replacement joint is the same?

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Really? How do I get back the 15 seconds I lost reading this?


JJ

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Originally Posted by ShadowBolt

Really? How do I get back the 15 seconds I lost reading this?


JJ

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Make it worth the read and chime in, this is a spinoff of the coil thread. Michael stated brass terminals on a dist cap are illegal.Attachment 1737

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Originally Posted by mach1

Make it worth the read and chime in, this is a spinoff of the coil thread. Michael stated brass terminals on a dist cap are illegal.Attachment 1737

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I would run whatever cap I wanted to (as long as it did not have flames on it). I can't see any performance improvement from a dist. cap. JMHO. Like on the Opticrap. If there is a unit made by anyone that will not fail every other year (or event) and gives no power improvement I say let them run them. I have seen too many guys have to change that POS at the track.

JJ

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Originally Posted by ShadowBolt

I would run whatever cap I wanted to (as long as it did not have flames on it). I can't see any performance improvement from a dist. cap. JMHO. Like on the Opticrap. If there is a unit made by anyone that will not fail every other year (or event) and gives no power improvement I say let them run them. I have seen too many guys have to change that POS at the track.

JJ

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Even if it did give a power improvement, it should be accounted for on the dyno and would still have to reside within the boundaries of the power/weight table. Just don't make any changes during the season that could potentially produce different numbers and you should be OK, right?

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Originally Posted by MHISSTC

Even if it did give a power improvement, it should be accounted for on the dyno and would still have to reside within the boundaries of the power/weight table. Just don't make any changes during the season that could potentially produce different numbers and you should be OK, right?

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There you go thinking about the underlying intent of the series again...