How to keep distributor dry?

ronmc1954

Member
For all you snow bunnies :) out there, we had a freakish blizzard yesterday not much snow but a lot of drifts. Anyone have some tips to keep the distributor dry? I punched through 1 drift and belts started squealing and 5 min later started missing a little bit. Around here we use wd 40 for the most part I was wondering, after seeing some pics of the snow runs you go on, how do you waterproof your engine?
You know how the fan just sucks in the snow.
Ron
 
An ignition system (and electrical system) "moisture" solution ron....

Back in the old days (that means when offroad race mosikles had energy-transfer magneto ignitions with breaker points), even high humidity/condensation could kill 'em periodically! Same for breaker point distributors in v-dub buggies, etc. And most especially, point-type ignitions (either mags or battery-powered) in outboard motors.

One of the first products that this company ever developed was "lps 3":

lps 3

And it is truly wondrous stuff! We actually sprayed it into the guts of the mags while the engines were running. In your case, we'd just spray all over the distributor and plug wires/connectors. Made a mess of nicely detailed engine bay...but it did come as close to "waterproofing" an ignition system as ya could ever get.

Those vinyl "boots" that slip over the distributor caps worked really well also...but still moisture would penetrate/condense underneath and then the corrosion process really accelerated if ya didn't take all the stuff apart and dry/clean/re-treat. And those distributor boots must be vented in some manner or condensation becomes a far worse problem than just surface moisture.

When electronic-trigger mags came into being, folks thought the moisture issue was solved...not so. Any non-sealed connection point then became problematic, and rust/corrosion would build up on non-treated magnet segments in flywheels and on mag pickups which would reduce the effective "air gap" to interference and kill the system. Usually that resulted in the entire electronic guts of the "controller/brain" (usually found inside the ignition coil) taking a permanent hike to the tune of many dineros! Can we spell motoplat, femsatronic, marelli, hitachi, denso, ???

Lps 3 rules even 40 years later!
 
Wow that looks like the chit!! "soft, self-healing waxy film
stops rust and corrosion, heavy-duty protective coating, penetrates to displace moisture, non conductive"

I have not had an issue with water in the dissy with the snow yet.

Looks to be big in the aviation market from goggle. I think I remember seeing it for sale somewhere?
 
Craig, you've had no problem with the snow getting on your dizzy? I guess that means the snow is deeper in nebraska:gringrin: :gringrin: :gringrin: :gringrin:

it might have something to do with the lift you have on your IH, maybe:gringrin: :gringrin: :gringrin:
ron
 
The way folks market shop aids and chemicals today is greatly affected by court decisions and the fookin' epahuggers! And most of the schnizz is not the good stuff from years ago.

At consumer and trade shows in the old days, the lps dude would "demo" this stuff by taking a plain old bare ceramic lamp socket with a 50w bulb screwed in, spraying with "3", and then challenging someone to hold onto it and stick it down inna aquarium fulla sea kittens duckin' for cover! With the bulb lit of course.

By the end of the 3 day show run, all them sea kittens had cancer of course. Peta stepped in and filed class action on lps and shut that demo down! Now they just call it "corrosion inhibitor" and only old farts know the story behind the story.
 
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