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I just found a line of NOS American made condensers for 62 to 64 Chevrolet's. They are 12 volt but I don't think there is a difference between 6,12 or 24 condensers. Is this true? Doc.

The condensers won't care about voltage, but if the condensers were made in the 50s, 60s, 70s or even the 80s, beware---please buy yourself a good handheld meter and test before using. Every single one of these was made using the "foil wrapped" method. Here's what that means: you have a long strip of foil and you have a dielectric compound which is either a liquid or gel. The dielectric was painted on the top surface of the foil and a machine spins it into a coil (which then becomes a cylinder). That cylinder is put into a small tin or aluminum canister and one end connects to the canister becoming the ground connection. The other end connects usually with a spring to the wire connection (to the points). Honestly this is technology of the 1920s. These are marginally accurate if built properly (and that hasn't happened on this troubled planet of ours for a long, long time) and inaccurate if built haphazardly. When they start failing, the internal connection becomes hit/miss and the capacitance value could literally be anything at all or nothing.

Why were we always told to change the condenser with each change of points? Because the old condensers were cheap and they didn't last long. The heat of the engine caused the dielectric in them to dry out and this caused them to internally fail and guess what that did? Yep...it caused your points to fail much faster.

I realize finding a source of NOS American-made condensers might sound attractive and fun and even like discovering buried treasure, but let's say you found some cases of condensed milk made in the 70s. Would you drink it or use it in baking recipes? Of course not. The condenser is nothing but a capacitor with a different name. Just like condensed milk. At the heart it is milk which has been processed. Today's capacitors are so many light years ahead of the capacitors made in the 1920s and 1930s there is truly no comparison at all. In the 1930s my late uncle used to make these capacitors (and resistors) which were used in early radios. Many people did this and it was a cottage industry which provided pocket change. Lunch money. Today the production of capacitors is all done in clean rooms by machines so precise you can hardly believe the accuracy they achieve. In my opinion the finest ones made come from America and Germany.

Please let me correct one thing I said above. The condensers won't care about a difference between 6 and 24 volts. Condensers (capacitors) do care about voltage, though. You must have capacitors which are rated for the proper voltage and they must be capable of flowing current in and back out.

How do you test?

Good question.

Get a good or at least decent handheld meter. Make certain it will test capacitors. Mine is an APPA 95, but I don't know if that model is still sold. It was made in Taiwan and is a fine unit, comparable to Fluke or other more expensive models. Near the bottom, you'll see 2 rectangular slots for testing capacitors. Some other meters I've seen have a different method of connection, however most followed this same design. If the leads on your capacitor aren't long enough to insert and make contact, use two paper clips inserted and touch the leads to those. Choose 4uF on the selection dial. Connect your capacitor and see what the meter tells you. Note...don't worry about polarity on automobile condensers. It doesn't matter in this case. Make certain the reading doesn't jump around or die/start again. If it does that, it indicates a loss of connection internally. You're looking for a stable reading as close to .22uF as possible. Please bear in mind today's capacitors are made (usually) to an acceptable variance of either 5 or 10%, so anything between .198 and .242 will be acceptable in their eyes. You can see a test on one of the capacitors I use to make the "alternative condensers" below. Slightly less than a 4% variance factor. Hope this helps.

During the condenser study I was asked by a few people on this forum and on others to which I belong "aren't some of these old Delco-Remy units still ok?" The most honest answer is "possibly but I would not depend on any of them." Here are two I saved and didn't cut open. One was a condenser I had been using before buying Tom Langdon's mini-hei unit. I didn't realize it had problems, but testing showed it jumping randomly between .001 and 2uF and only hitting any number close to .22uF occasionally. A connection breaking down and a good way to fry a set of points and maybe a coil at the same time. The other is brand new, made in USA and never used, hiding in my tool box. A Standard Products part. I would have bought it at Western Auto, and that would have been in the early 1990s based on the price tag. The meter ranged from .000 to .001. A completely open circuit in there...meaning it had dried out.

Thank you all so much. It was on Ebay and I didn't recognize the brand. I will stay away. Any ideas on what to do? Ed

Ed, please go to the Electrical Bay section and look up at the top. There is a sticky note at the titled "The Alternative Condenser Update." You can see the condenser I created and instructions on how to get one if you wish.

Important note: I'm not trying to promote these. All proceeds from this project and any other project I embark on will be used to fund future AD projects.