Hello, friend of mine has a 1967 Firebird 326 and he asked me to do his tune-up. He bought plugs, wires, cap, rotor, points, and a condenser. Before I started I marked down where the numbered plugs went on the cap. Took the cap off and noticed there was a points/condenser together, not like the one he bought which had just the points itself and the condenser separate. Know this is were it gets weird. I found a condenser screwed to the coil bracket. I installed all the parts he bought and the car didn't start. I ended putting the old points/condenser back in and the car started. Car runs like [censored]! It sound like a bottom end problem. He said the car ran, drove awhile and the car stalled. Got it started and drove home and parked it. Other weird thing is that all the specs I found showed the #1 plug wire went on the dist cap, drivers side rear. His was on the opposite side on the dist cap. Know I cant figure out why this is like this and how it ran before? Where should #1 wire start on the dist cap?
Yes, If I recall the electrolytic capacitor/condenser on the points extends the duration of the spark current and reduces pitting of the points and the ones on the coil and regulator are for radio suppression.
To add... Aside from the timing and firing order, did you check the dwell. If I recall it should be ~29-30 and is checked with [you guessed it] a dwell meter.
In regard to the wire to cap placement, it's not critical as long as the firing order is correct and the rotor is properly indexed. To clean up the wire routing, my #1 wire is located in the #7 position as shown in the diagram above and my engine runs fine. When I install the distributor I just make sure the rotor is pointing toward [or between] cylinders 3 & 5.
