Hot Rods Sitting at the stop light today and the wagon died!

If you have a flame thrower with an igniter II it's easy. Pertronix has a video on their site. Remove a few screws and then cut the old wires and use them to fish the new ones through the distributor.

 

Danny,after reading hundreds of thread here on the HAMB for the past 10 years,WHY are you running a damn Pertronix???? Hard headed??? Throw that junk in the trash,,put your points back in it,,,Just didn't think I would need to tell you this.
Bob

 

It appears not much more difficult than installing a new set of points.

All of us that grew up and learned to drive cars with points style ignition have surely cleaned and reset points on the side of the road somewhere. I've done it multiple times, on both cars and bikes. You all know the drill, running some sand paper or emery cloth thru the points, maybe just cleaning any oil off them with some dry paper, maybe using a small nail file to smooth them out. Doing it in the dark with a flashlight.

I recall one trip to El Mirage in about '86 or so, taking my boys out with ATC's in the back of my IH 1210, to meet up with the guys from work to ride bikes and buggies for the weekend and watch the SCTA time trials. Sunday morning the IH would not fire. We went through everything trying to get it to fire, to no avail. I loaded up with a buddy and we went into Adelanto to probably the only auto parts shop in town, but that was when auto parts shops were real auto parts shops, with actual inventory in stock and actual parts catalogs and guys that actually knew how to look things up in a book. They had the breaker points for the Holley distributor on the 345. I installed them and it fired right up. The old points had failed completely, without warning.***** happens. I don't think going backwards in technology is a way to improve reliability.

 

It probably won't improve reliability, but it can improve repairability.

 

Don't sugar coat it Bob,tell it like it is!

When I built the wagon my old friend Deuce Roadster gave me a brand new Pentronix distributor and I used it,It worked fine for 36,000 miles and I really can't complain but with points you can at least limp home,your not dead in the water,or in my case the turn lane on a major intersection. HRP

 

Not afraid,I was changing points when your mother was changing your dippers! HRP

 

This is Brenda and her mom beside the wagon back in the day. HRP

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This is so cool Danny.

 

Probably the same reason the points guys are terrified of electronics.

 

Yep!

 

Thanks,LOL,,Its a 57 Thunderbird with my homemade 4x2 intake from cutting up a drive shaft. Most of you'll would also get a kick out of,how many guys {30ish an younger at shows } ask or tell me about how hard it must be too make that Chevy SBC V8 in my car,look like a Ford !
They never saw a Y-block Ford V8,so with dizzy in the rear it must be a Chevy ,LOL.
Some times I must just pop there bubble of stupid !! LOL Love my old Y-block Ford.

 

This is so cool Danny.[/QUOTE]

Thank you sir. HRP

 

Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to take a peak at mine and see whats up.

 

Some of us points guys are very knowledgeable about electronics. We just like the simple, elegant, old fashioned way of doing things. And being able to fix stuff when it breaks, is a plus.

But there are those who really are mystified by something as complicated as ignition points. And there are those who really are mystified by something as complicated by electronic ignition.

 

Ron... My O.T. Porsche-powered '57 VW closed up the points on the freeway one A.M., (Highway 1 outside Santa Cruz) here I am with decklid open, drivers door open, I'm pushing this thing at about 8 MPH...fast as I can, to a 'wide spot'.
Right behind me, this old baldheaded***** has pulled up in his Plymouth wagon, and he's blasting his horn.
I stop, pull the hand brake, and walk to his drivers door. "HEY, Elmer...How about getting out, you push my car and I'll honk your horn!"
The old broad with him starts laughing, the jerk backs up and goes around...then honks again!
Once I pulled it over to the wide spot, popped the cap and bent the rigid contact frame away from the cam, with my trusty Puma Lockback...replaced the cap, and it lit.
Got to my BMW shop, shared the story, the guys thought it was 'classic'.

 

Haha, and some of us Pertronix guys understand points systems very well too! Really, Pertronix system is not really much more difficult to repair if the module fails than swapping out a set of points. The only real drawback being you need to have a spare module on hand. Or, carry a set of points and a condenser in a tool box and if the module fails on your somewhere, put the points back in it and go. Some folks are making things out more difficult than they need to be.

 

There's a spare HEI module in the glovebox of my pickup truck....

 

interesting discussion. I've adjusted points on a 1961 Vespa VBB with the 6v magneto 2-stroke single cylinder. On my 2 classic's I've got HEI - I guess I just thought that it's one less thing to adjust but when I get the Wagon a bit more long haul ready I'll carry a spare HEI (and a spare tire) ;-)

 

ANYTHING can fail, and when it does, it's usually at the worst possible time! Very few times have I had a part fail in the driveway or garage, usually I'm out in the middle of resume speed bumfuckeqypt, miles away from a parts store. Thank God for cell phones, I've walked many times before I had one, now just have to hope you have service!

 

Been in those shoes and feel your pain, Danny. I got five years out of my Pertronix unit before it died without a whimper one sunny afternoon. Fortunately, some friends happened by and stopped to help. Reverted to original distributor with points and never looked back. As others have said, points will get you home.

 

I really like your wagon, great looking car. I have to admit I am a bit jealous.

 

I must be the luckiest SOB this side of nowhere, I've never been left sitting because of a failed HEI module!

 

My dad had a partner named Bill when he started his business in the late 50's. Bill stopped at a light to turn left and down the hill to their shop when his 55 Olds died. The guy behind him immediately starts honking his horn. Takes Bill 10 or 15 seconds to get the car started, and in the meantime he flips the finger at the horn honker.

He's starting to pull away and sees the guy's door fly open. He runs up alongside the car and tries to punch Bill thru the open window. Bill grabs the guy's arm and rolls up the window tight enough to trap him. He then proceeds to drive about 200 yards to the next light, just fast enough to keep the guy at a dead run to stay on his feet.. Stops there, rolls the window down, and asks the guy if he wants to try anything else. Obviously not.

Next morning, a city cop shows up at the shop. The clown had filed a complaint at the PD, claiming Bill had tried to run him down with his car. Bill tells him exactly what happened. The cop says Let me make sure I get this straight for my report. The man attempted to****ault you when you'd done nothing other than flip him off for blowing the horn.. And rather than getting into a fight, you helped him work out his aggression thru exercise. Does that sound about like what happened? Bill agreed that was what happened.

As the cop started to leave, he turned and told Bill the other man was lucky. Bill asked why. The cop says "Because, if I'd been driving that car instead of you, he would've run at least a half a mile."

 

Thank you

 

Any time I've had a HEI module***** out on me, I had some warning signs, so I pretty much knew what was coming. All 3 times, I was able to get the car home. I never had one fail completely... so far.

This is my first HEI hotrod so I'm learning as I go. I really never even thought of going with points due to the caliber ($$$) of the rest of the build. The module seems to be the weak link in the chain, that will be the first place I'll look if I have issues.

 

A friend and I were vacationing in his mid-70s rice rocket in the mountains of Colorado back in '86, and it started sputtering, finally coming to a halt. I got out and figured that it was an ignition problem. Point gap looked good, and he had just installed new points, condenser, rotor, cap, plugs and wires, so we were baffled. I checked the points as best I could and re-set them with a screwdriver and pliers. It was enough for us to limp into the next town where a younger mechanic quickly diagnosed the problem as a bad condenser. He had one that he thought would work, and 15 minutes later we were on our way. You never know quite what goes on, but points and condensers are pretty much available everywhere, or at least they were 30 years ago.

 

I went back to points, feeling safer


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My theory is probably a lot of distributors are clapped out by now, even if the engine has been rebuilt. Excessive side play or wobble of distributor shaft makes setting points about impossible, the dwell will be all over the place. And the 'Zone only sells modern*****py condensers and el-cheapo points that soon fail anyway. So they think it was always like that, pop in a module and it runs great. Points are normally good for what 8k to 10k miles? With good points and distributor that's years and years for most people with collector cars.

 

Been running pertronix in my crab dist. for five plus years. Guess I'm due! I do carry the points etc .with me.

 

HRP...I think I saw you. LOL!!