TR2/3/3A Distributor ground wire

[RonR]

Folks.

Is there a way to replace the distributor ground wire that is attached to the moving contact breaker plate at the pin that rides in the contact breaker base plate?

Thanks.
Ron

 

[TR3driver]

It should be riveted to the moving plate, the other end goes under one of the screws that anchors the fixed plate to the body. To replace it, you'll have to drill out the rivet and replace it with something. A copper pop-rivet should do nicely (but I've not tried it myself). A small bolt would probably work too, but be sure to stake the end so it can't come apart.

 

[Geo Hahn]

Is a special wire needed for that to accommodate the flexing? Looks something like braided solder wick (only insulated).

On mine the end that is riveted seems to be soldered to little plate (and held under a bent tab) -- possibly a wire could be soldered at that connection w/o removing the rivet?

Really don't know, never had to replace that wire.

 

[TR3driver]

It should be a special extra-flexible wire, as any stiffness will impede the vacuum advance action. Ordinary stranded wire will also work harden and break quicker.

I don't know if the original Lucas wire could be soldered by ordinary means or not. But I tried to solder some similar wire for a phono arm once (a long time ago), and it was really tough to get even close to right. Each 'strand' is actually a very fine coil of wire wrapped around some sort of fiber. The whole mess would just fall apart when approached with a soldering iron.

 

[dklawson]

Ron, I responded to your post in the Spridget forum.

 

[RonR]

I have a new ground wire from Moss. It is a bare copper stranded wire with terminal ends at both ends.

The distributor, for whatever reason, is from a early 1960 Sprite (40919), not a TR3

The old ground wire is somewhat permanently attached, with the metal terminal end under the end of the pin in the contact breaker plate. The end of the pin has been spread out in a cross hatch pattern to secure the pin to the plate. It is not a rivit, but a 3/8-inch long pin with a groove near the end for the base contact breaker plate to ride in.

The question is how does one remove the old ground wire without damaging the pin?
Perhaps cutting the old wire off, leaving the terminal end under the pin, and then sodering the new wire to the old wire terminal end is the only solution. Or buy a new plate, if available.

 

[JohnnyMead]

Advanced Distributors sells a 32 strand wire for this application. It's got lugs at both ends. See at:

https://advanceddistributors.mybisi.com/product/universal-distributor-groundearth-wire

when I got my distributor back from them it had the wire secured under the condenser screw. Probably not as secure as the staked pin, but it's worked fine.
john

 

[JohnnyMead]

Correction: that advanced distributor wire is 350 strands. That's a lot of strands.