electronic ignition conversion...never again!

[Wayne Womble 12210]

It depends on the set up. On My 31 and 33 Cadillac one point operates four cylinders and the second operates the other four.    But most performance dual point distributors operate together to increase the dwell time, and decrease point wear.  That is actually not in series though, so it should run on one.

[TJ Hopland]

I can sort of wrap my brain around 2 points and 2 coils and how that maybe could allow the engine to run on half the cylinders, seems like a strange design that would not gain you much but apparently was not that common so that may be the reason.   

Guess I need more info on the dual setup with one coil.  Is this it?

Both are open no ground to the coil
A closes which means coil is now grounded
B closes and also grounds coil
A opens but coil is still grounded by B
B opens and the coil now fires

[Caddy Wizard]

Dual point plates on a OHV V8 Cadillac use two point sets and operate with one coil.  The "dwell" time or angle is the angle through which the points are closed (and during which time the coil is charging).  Once the points open, the coil discharges its stored energy through the spark plug wire.  In a dual point set up, the two point sets are timed to largely overlap, but with a slight difference (I think it is about 7 degrees).  In this configuration, the two point sets are in parallel, I think, and the coil doesn't fire until both point sets have opened (as long as one of them is grounded/closed, the coil is still charging).  So even if one point set goes bad, you could open the bad one up completely and still run on just the other point set.  Anyway, that is my understanding.


I do know for sure that my cars have run better on dual points than on any other ignition.