Confused, 2 Condensers? 230 6cyl dies

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by Old65C10

I recently resurrected this 1965 C10 with a 230 6cyl. It had been sitting a long time. I did al the normal stuff, fluids, brakes, etc.
I replaced the spark plugs, wires, cap, rotor and the condenser in the distributor. This got it running and it was running good for several weeks.
It was running good, but now it will just die. Like you shut if off. Wait a few minutes and it will start again, run for 5 minutes or so and die.
So, I figured it must be the coil. I saw that there is what I assumed a condenser on the coil, so I got a coil and condenser and installed them.
I think it is worse now. No power, want to die, etc.
What is that thing that looks like a condenser attached to the coil? I'm going to guess it is not the condenser I replaced it with.
At this point I am very temped to just put an HEI distributor in it. If you have any suggestions, or where to get a decent drop in HEI, I would be very thankful.

That looks like a heat-related problem with the ignition system. I'd personally go through the wiring and clean up all the connections, including the bulkhead connector. Are there any stray wires going to weird places? When I got my truck, the CB radio was long gone, but there were #12 power wires going to nowhere, under the seat carpet. I'd suggest looking carefully at all the wiring, and making sure that it goes where it is supposed to go. This is one tedious job, believe me! But on a truck this age, there can't be that many wires.

Like Franken said, that capacitor on the side of the coil is for RF noise suppression. If you suspect that it is a problem, just take it off, as it only affects the AM radio. Probably not the problem though, since it didn't change the stalling issue.