Single points or dual points????

[Jeff Kay CLC#7630]

Which is better to install in a 346 cid flathead; single points or dual points?  What are the advantages to dual points?  Are there any disadvantages?  Who sells dual points braker plates?

Thanks,

Jeff Kay

[CLC#12231]

Advantage:  Higher dwell for better coil saturation and hotter spark.

Disadvantage:  Higher cost.

[TJ Hopland]

Here is a site I found that explains it fairly well.  They appear to be dealing with a 4cyl but later talk about V8's.

http://www.mgaguru.com/mgtech/ignition/ig200.htm

[35-709]

I can see no real advantage to dual points with a stock engine.  If you are building one up for high performance I would go electronic.  If you don't care about originality the Pertronix is one good way to go.   

[Doug Hpuston]

Back in the fifties, Dynaflyte dual point breker plates were popular for about any engine's distributor. They had a very good ball bearing suspension, and were  highly sensitive to the action of the vacuum advance. As already explained, they made ignition more efficient.

I have installed a Dynaflyte plate on one of my '41 Cadillacs, and it worked well for a while. But, the cam follower blocks on the two point sets wear at different rates, even as similar as you can get them. That involves re-removing the distributor and re-adjustment at closer intervals than you'd check single points.  This is done on a distributor machine. As good an idea as the dual points were, they became sort of a nuisance, and I removed the second set of points, left the Dynaflyte plate on it, and went away contented.

While the dwell angle will drift normally with single points, it becomes more critical with the dual points, and always wants to be out of adjustment. You'll probably never feel the difference with or without dual points.

[Jeff Kay CLC#7630]

Thanks for all the advice.

I like the idea of using the dual points braker plate with just one set of points, just becase it has many more ball bearings.  My thinking is that the more ball bearings, the more steady.  The original plate has only three ball bearings.