Petronix,worth a crap?

does anyone else have a Pertronix unit where it tells you to turn the key to "on" for 5 secs then start the car? to charge the unit? or is mine one that "fell" off a truck somewhere? folks have told me I should be able to start up right away.
anyway the plus side yes is no need to replace points, you can lose your ballast resistor if you have one etc...

 

There okay use to use them but now ive opted for the crane xri same thing but with a built in rev limiter for the same money.my .02

 

I have not run into that at all, my 390FE starts right up.

 

I had a compufire same thing as pertronix in my 61 bug super easy to install it seemed to start up alot quicker also smoother. I dont know whta went wrong but it blew it was all cracked and the sticker on it was melted i think i got a refund and bought a pertronix. but like alot of people said once it blows and i dont know what makes it blow but once it does there is no fixing electronical **** so keep some points on you. or just get an hei. but pertronix is definitley more old school.

 

Works good had it in my '33 with the 3 deuce setup.Now I have it on my '50 pick up.

 

I have one in my 302.

 

I put one in a friends cutl*** 5 years ago. Still going strong. Plan to use one
in my 351C very soon. Worst case, your petronix dies and you stick a set of
points in it on the road to get you home. It's a good product at a good price.
There is even a knock off for Harleys now. Although it's 200 bucks.
Rod

 

Can you use a MSD box with a Pertronics unit?

 

Yes, but have you priced good points and condenser sets lately???? At over 20 bucks for the pair (more for a dual point dizzy) old school points/condensor set-ups aren't all that cheap anymore. Couple that along with the fact that many "chain" type stores you'll need to use if you cook a set of points out on the road many times don't carry old school parts anymore makes the conversion more appealing. .....not to mention that its almost impossible to get good quality points now a days.

I've had great luck running old Ford "Mustard Top" coils and stock dual point ignitions on restos for years but the way the motors start easier, keep the plugs cleaner and have superior idle quality and idle recovery with the electronic ignitions justifies the costs of the conversions alone....in my opinion.

-Bigchief.

 

Everything on a Harley is $200...