Excellent (if overly enthusiastic) explanation Gerald!
Thanks!
Thanks!
Questionable Blue Streak Distributor Cap(?)
- Thread starter Ghostultramarine
- Start date
70bigblockdodge
Old Man with a Hat
The towers get a pretty good pit on them after a lot of miles. If it cleans up sure why not.
Cazman
Active Member
This is a good intro for me! As an long recovering entrepreneur, I decided a while back to get into the Reshoring America thing (it is a thing). I purchased the last (or one of the last) ignition distributor and rotor manufacturing companies in the US. We probably have more molds for domestic engines than anyone else in the world - OE spec. If you need a cap, let me know. Or better I'll supply @halifaxhops, as we do not usually sell retail.
We do sell to Standard Motor Products and Wells and other wholesalers.
The cap in question is a Blue Streak from Standard and indeed from Mexico. It should come from us, but China and Mexico have beaten us on price on many products. The best thing to do is ***** to Standard or their resellers (advance, O reilly, autozone, etc.) and tell them what crap they supply and that YOU WANT MADE IN USA. We are trying to persuade them to indicate USA Made products, but they have not done so.
The best caps used to be made with copper inserts. Copper is long lasting and the best conductor. Aluminum is a good conductor, but does not last. Brass was the compromise and the whole industry moved to Brass long ago. You will not find a modern cap with copper.
I do think that the auto industry will be moving from commodity to better made products as the electric cars come in and all of our cars become prized possessions. Who knows. Until then - BUY AMERICAN!
We do sell to Standard Motor Products and Wells and other wholesalers.
The cap in question is a Blue Streak from Standard and indeed from Mexico. It should come from us, but China and Mexico have beaten us on price on many products. The best thing to do is ***** to Standard or their resellers (advance, O reilly, autozone, etc.) and tell them what crap they supply and that YOU WANT MADE IN USA. We are trying to persuade them to indicate USA Made products, but they have not done so.
The best caps used to be made with copper inserts. Copper is long lasting and the best conductor. Aluminum is a good conductor, but does not last. Brass was the compromise and the whole industry moved to Brass long ago. You will not find a modern cap with copper.
I do think that the auto industry will be moving from commodity to better made products as the electric cars come in and all of our cars become prized possessions. Who knows. Until then - BUY AMERICAN!
Wondered when you were going to say something .
Cazman
Active Member
LOL. I guess I better start building our MOPAR line!
Gerald Morris
Senior Member
NOS, NORS, MADE IN U.S.A. is the **** to Git bro! Its how I shop, and how Mathilda rolls. NAPA still vends good caps too, but aside from them, I know of no other good quality makers or distributors of distributor parts for our rods any longer. I reckon NAPA still gets good stuff made for them by Elgin, and a few other U.S. manufactures.
Gerald Morris
Senior Member
PLEASE DO! We really need the stuff man. If you gotta hire wheezing octogenarians to work the line and pay for their dialysis, heart n lung machines and stuff, just charge your market accordingly. Better that than see another American factory get grabbed by foreign devils who lust to exploit us via imperialist methods learned from....Guess Who?
Cazman
Active Member
Could be old. Usually if it is new and made in USA it is ours.
Cazman
Active Member
Elgin does not make the caps and rotors. I do not know of any other US maker of caps and rotors except for some small specialty stuff. Even MSD went to China for most of their stuff.
70NEWYORKER
Well-Known Member
That's a decent cap. Good anti-arc ribbing. Loomnum terminals should last a long time unless you're running some fancy gigawatt ignition system.
What's weird on that one is plastic surrounds the contact such that if your rotor phasing was a little retarded the plastic might block the arc.
The aluminum one I replaced on my car ran 12 yrs but not that many miles with oem ignition and blaster 2 coil. It wasn't worn out but had significant wear.
The aluminum one I replaced on my car ran 12 yrs but not that many miles with oem ignition and blaster 2 coil. It wasn't worn out but had significant wear.
Cazman
Active Member
What is the part number (s)?
Gerald Morris
Senior Member
My mistake. Its Echlin! Claims to be U.S. made
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/ECH...impressionRank=3&keywordInput=distributor+cap
Cazman
Active Member
That one on the site, I think, is ours. Echlin USA is ours and Echlin non-USA is Mexico.
They change the part numbers a few times after it leaves us, so it can get confusing.
They change the part numbers a few times after it leaves us, so it can get confusing.
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Ghostultramarine
Active Member
I stopped at a Part Source here and they had BWD in stock. It was NOT like the one in your picture.
It was the same mould as the Blue Streak, just in a brown coloured plastic. No “Made in USA” on it.
I also went to NAPA and the caps they had were just like the Blue Streak one. Just brown plastic.
The NAPA site shows a picture of the Made in USA cap on it. That’s what I was expecting until I had the girl working there open all the boxes they had. All Mexican. All the same quality.
Gerald Morris
Senior Member
Typical Bait and Switch advert ****. The greedy fucks. I guess I got LUCKY when I bought an American made one from them this past Spring. Good thing I scored a bunch of NOS Mopar 2444507 caps cheap. I don't usually dig aluminum contacts, but I can use these and replace them for some years to come.
Gerald Morris
Senior Member
That looks right. I bought a U.S. made Echlin this past Spring, but our OP just was shown a batch of Echlin mexcrement today. All this "free trade" happy horseshit of the past 40 yrs makes this game possible. IFF I find any superior quality Old American stuff, I'm gonna snarf it and use it for as long as I can. Otherwise, I have plenty 1988 vintage Mopar 2444570s to burn, and they do OK.
Gerald Morris
Senior Member
THAT one depicted looks like whats meant for "IBP" type distributors I think. I've seen enough pics advertising similar caps. I like the way the contacts are ridged against cross firing, but don't think these will work on a regular rotor or distributor. I don't KNOW tho. Try it.
