Can Dist. Caps & Rotors be "reburbish"....?

I looked into this myself a few years back and concluded "NO" --- as the terminals are insert-molded into the plastic. So, there's no way to remove / replace them and no way to add material without subjecting the plastic to excessive heat (welding, soldering, etc.).

 

Unless the price gets over $500 each, it wouldn't make sense to even try IMO. I, too, don't like paying the $120 each for the TR distributor rotors, but you'll wind up paying yourself $5/hr to undertake such projects from scratch.

You might be able to electroplate the exposed end of the dist rotor, but I wouldn't be so sure if this could be done on a dist cap (if the electrolyte is something nasty) -- but just the machining (plus associated tooling/set-up) is at least a few hundred in value IMO.

 

Hey JEFF, there's no shame in pondering such things...some very good ideas have come from such musing...

It is probably possible to do something with the cap ---- such as machine separate pieces that can be fastened (screwed or riveted) onto the existing posts creating appropriate electrical contact. But, unless you're going to do the design work and actual machining yourself, you're going to spend several hundred bucks on the fabrication. Then of course, your left with the original, aged, plastic housing that will probably break the day after you get it back on the car!

As for the rotors, it's much trickier... On the injected cars, the rotor tab is actually a spring-loaded, multi-piece assembly designed and balanced to act as a mechanical rev limiter --- when the max RPM is reached, the pieces actually break contact with one another to kill the spark. So, if you add / remove material to any part of the rotor tab, the mass properties will be changed, and the rev limiter function is altered or possibly defeated --- not good, unless you also plan on adding an aftermarket, electronic rev limiter somewhere in the system.

Like Steve says, until these parts reach several hundred bucks, it's not real feasible...

Several years ago, when the stock of original Marelli parts was used up, new caps were going for as much as $450 each, making several folks begin to seriously consider such projects ---- but, in the end, some outfit started providing reproduction caps and rotors, and the prices became reasonable (in Ferrari terms) again.

 

Back in the day replacing caps and rotors was part of the 10K mile saturday afternoon tuneup. You stopped by Shoppers City and picked up the plugs, points, condensor, cap and rotor, along with the new airfilter, oil filter and oil, handed the man a $20 bill and got some beer money back and drove home. I dunno, maybe if owners bought more caps and rotors Ferrari wouldnt charge so much? Hard to say. But when you couldnt find a cap or rotor for some oddball car like a Simca or a Renault, then wadda ya do? Well, ya filed the buggers to clean them up and ran them some more. I dont know how much clearance there is between the cap and rotor contacts, but there is surely some margin of extra that wont harm anything. If it was running when you took it apart, it should run when you put it back together unless you go nuts and remove a bunch of metal. Probably the best course would be to put one new cap and rotor on every so often, and save the old for a spare. Then next time replace the other cap with a new one. Eventually you will have some good useable spares, and two good sets still in service.

 

I just did this, the rotor and cap are still decent so I used the mini wire brush attachment on my dremel and gently cleaned all of the contacts. Good thing I spotted a little oil in one of the plug holes which prompted me to pull the cam cover which revealed the dizzy seal was leaking. Not only that but the set screw and washer was dislodged and on spin cycle! The oil puddle was an early find and just in time. I think this all may have attributed to the slight miss...not certain till it's all back together. No light show at night but the wires are old so they get replaced next.