I'm way ahead of you. I put it on the engine, set the timing and its in the trunk ready to go. I wish I knew why the one on my 59 quit working
I race British cars against British cars. My British car has a Crane system and a number of the British cars I race against have Pertronix. The Pertronix units fail and the Crane doesn't. According the statement that the cause of concern for Pertronix is voltage and ground problems found in British cars. I guess the Crane can handle the evil British electrical systems better. If you have a British car get a Crane. I see it at the track and I know what causes most of the failures.(and it is not ground or voltage problems, in fact I have tried to help my compe***ors fix what kills the Pertronix stuff but they won't listen) The Pertronix stuff is too fragile. It can be made to work as good as the Crane, but then you are back to a as good as deal.
i have the mallory unit in my 50 chevy (350) over 12 yrs no problems i have a pertronics in my 65 caddy and my 58 ford (292 y-block) run both for the last 5 years the ford failed so i put another in and now keep a spare in all 3 cars
I have never had a Mallory unilite distributor that didn't fail!! with 2 different cars they both failed like clockwork, years ago I remember putting my dual points back in a 428 cobra jet along the side of the road in the rain and pulling a different car home on a log chain a few years later. my brother and a couple friends had no better luck. We liked them cause they ran great and were easy to re-curve but hated all the walking involved. They have to work or they couldn't sell so many but on any car i buy i pull them out and eBay them or throw them away! they are too fragile and I'm still mad 20 years later. maybe the newer units are better but i,m done trying. pertronix is much more dependable but I usually carry a set of points anyway never have had to use them though ,they are good stuff. MSD stuff is nearly bullet proof and failure is very rare that's my top pick!!!
I've had problems with Mallory Unilites in the past, and switched to the magnetec version, Maglite. The magnetic has been totally bulletproof, and have never had a failure. They say to run a 1.5 ohm ballast resistor ahead of the coil. The weakness in the system is the ballast resistor,and it can be eliminated if you run a 1.5 ohm primary resistance coil. ( as per Mallory tech rep)
i have had unilite and it failed. i got it to replace an old YL Mallory dual point the cost of points was getting high eaven Echlin cindensors failed i got a Petronoix III with rev limator it works good i have used Petronix to replace points for a long time no problem better start smother at high rpm's (But the lousy thing did not fix my gas milage) just kidding They worked good in MGA's but i found that i had to install a ground wire on the braker plate
I've had Pertronix ignitor I for about 10 yrs. Starts/runs great. Can't use ballast resistor. they need full 12V. I think Pertronix is the only thing I vere bought that worked exactly as advertised the first time. I've heard some have trouble burning them out if the ignition is left on with engine off. I've had my ignition on for long peroids while working on the car and no trouble so far.
I put a Pertronix 2 in my truck a couple weeks ago and it's worked perfect! Yesterday it was doing some weird things, so I put a timing light on it and saw I had no mechanical advance. I pulled the distributor to see what the issue was, put it back together and it wouldn't fire. Double checked everything from TDC, fuel, rotor aimed at #1, etc... Hmmmmmm! I unhooked a couple of plug wire, hooked up another plug turned the motor over and BIG sparks. My question is I'm not sure if I bumped the vacuum canister, but could I have knocked it out of phase? I put a piece of 1/4" tape around the outside of the rotor and marked where the 8 magnets were underneath. I put a mark on the center of the pickup box. I then lined up TDC with the cap, rotor (the magnet mark to the center of the pickup) all even to center! Put a few degrees advance...NOTHING! Is the pickup area not in the center of the little box? Did I get lucky putting it in the first time? I'm going nuts with this....Fuel and spark and NOTHING!!!!! Help!
I ran a Pertronix in an SBC racemotor for a couple of seasons till one day it went flat dead. Put points back in it and finished the wekend. When I spoke with the company they were helpful with advice and we concluded I must have had the ignition on for a spell without starting the engine. I threw the Pertronix away, bought an MSD reluctor and pickup, mounted these in the old Chevy fuelie distributor and have run it for years no problem. MSD quality is worth the money, IMO.
I have two Pertronix Ignitor I and Flamethrower coils in both my daily rides for a combined 13 years now and never a problem. Over the years I have read that the Ignitor I burns out with the ignition on and the engine not running. Well, earlier this year I managed to leave the ignition on overnight, but all that happened was that I had to recharge the battery the next day and no damages to the Ignitor or coil. Installs easy in about 5 minutes inside the original distributor and is apparently as reliable as it gets and works better than points with no maintenance required. I also liked their detailed customer service response, when I had questions about what spark plug wires I can use.
It all depends on where the dist happens to be pointing when it was shut off. More often than not the magnet will be close enough the the pickup to complete the circuit and cause the overheating and failure. You got lucky. The Ignitor II has a microprocessor that shuts off if you happen to leave the key on and the motor is not turning. Thanks for your support and kind words. Don from PerTronix
Yes, I wasn't sure if I was just lucky with an open circuit, but the drained battery indicated otherwise. I always thought, if the engineers of the day had magnetic sensors instead of points, they sure would have used them on every engine.
I have always preffered a points type distributor with an MSD. If the box fries, change the wiring around, and away you go.
I run a mallory unilite on my hemi for the last 7 years with no problems. The units do not like voltage transients so they recommend there filter in line. Also they have replacement modules called E-spark that are used for point conversions but they are also a direct replacement for the unilite module at a third of the cost, pic of the filter and replacement below.
Have a Uni-Lite in my '59 348 Tri-Power. Made a huge difference in starting & acceleration, but I don't recommend using it with a generator. If you're running an alternator, it can't be beat.
Still have an early Pertronix unit in my 72 F100, still fires up every time. I wish they made one for early Ford front-mount dizzie !!!! 4TTRUK
I run a Mallory dual point in my 57 motor with no problems. Are you sure your ballast resistor is ok?
Wow, weird deal. Found why it wouldn't start and it was a first for me. The harmonic damper had spun almost 3 inches! TDC wasn't anywhere it was supposed to be! Once I found that and fixed the problem, it lit right up and it was game on! I'm sticking with the Pertronix!
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