While I had the engine compartment all torn up yesterday while working on my Brat, I found this on the ground. I am 100% certain that I did not disconnect it, and had never seen it before. What is it?

 

Its a condenser. It should be conected to the distibutor. Deffinately put it back on cos you won't go far without it.

It should connect across the distributor points. The body bit connects to your car's body (earth) and the wire to the side of your points that go to the ignition coil.

Hmm, I didn't remove it. I just found it underneath my car after working on it. The car started and seems to run just fine.

 

I thought it looked like a condenser to me. Maybe it was dropped by a previous owner and never found.

If you have a points disty and no condenser, your points will burn up pretty quickly.