Technical Opinion on pertronix?

I often hear people talk about Pertronix failures, and it always puzzles me. I sold a car about 8 years ago that had a Pertronix kit in the Chevy distributor for over 35 years, and the new owner told me it was the first thing he was going to remove. My other Austin gasser has had a Pertronix kit in it for almost 15 years now, and never an issue.
I wonder why mine work for very long times, yet I hear others having failures? I do have MSD 6AL boxes ahead of both of them, and maybe that protects them?

 

I had one on mt 32 pickup and it never gave me any problem, drove it many miles,ran like a top.

I also had one in the Ranch Wagon simply because of the service I had with the one in the Deuce pickup, we drove the car to Novi, Michigan and 4 years later drove to Memphis,Tennessee, we put thousands of miles on the Wagon with the pentronix and here in town it shorted out and killed the module, in 5 O'clock traffic and I was in the left turn lane. it just died.

within a week I was running points again and i haven't had any problems with ignition since.

I would suggest if you run Pertronix keep a set of points & a condenser in the glove compartment, hopefully you will never need them. HRP

 

Ignition lead
https://www.ebay.com/itm/315368127881
or
https://www.ebay.com/itm/315367824100
Isolator
I didn't find one right off the bat. I'd dig deeper in two directions, Power Wagon restoration places and fork lift repair places. The flathead 6 was used in both and they both like to keep the stuff up and running and will have those parts that are less often serviced.

You might want to read through this.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/mopar-flathead-6-distributor-upgrade-48-desoto.653565/

 

My go to a Morpar module tripped by stock point distributor

 

Not too sure what that isolator is or what it is for. Never had one on any of my flathead MoPars.
As far as Pertronics, I have had good service with several of them for a long time. The only one that fried was my fault.

 

@proartguy it's the little chunk of insulator that fits in the side of the body, which has a threaded attachment on the outside to connect to the coil and another on the inside to connect to the points lead and the condenser. Without it, the connection would ground to the body.
Look at the second picture in this ad.
His may not be this exact design. Later ones were molded to the wire that went between the coil and points.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/286364682783

 

My pertronix has worked great for about 5-6 years.

 

My opinion on the Pertronix after reading about them here and dealing with them a few times is
1. a decent aftermarket solution if installed and used properly.
2. has issues if not installed properly with all other components also in good working order.
3. are susceptible to 'frying' if shorted or care not taken.
4. occasional failures. This could be due to the install and other parts (2) or 'frying' while testing (3), or like any component has a limited life.
5. doesn't seem to have an easily understood troubleshooting tree or common failure point that is easily diagnosed and replaced.
All that to say, some have great experiences, others have issues that are not easy to find and fix. That's a bit like a lot of electrical parts.

 

There are those who seem to have issues with any/every thing, the usual problem is them .

 

Could you use one of those plastic/nylon push in license plate bushings? They are square, with a hole in middle for the pass through, or connection bolt.

 

Thanks for clarifying that.

 

I had no idea it was the insulator and not an isolator of some kind.

 

Ive heard them called both isolator and insulator.

Through one of those eBay links I happen to see this wire and knew it was the right one just by looking and bought it. https://www.ebay.com/itm/126923059836

 

how does the Petronics unit bypass the isolator? ....probably just a grommet . put a grommet in and check the wire periodically

 

I’m going to see if I can get an isolator/insulator together that doesn’t short circuit being I found a NORS wire that broke. But if not ill just grommet the wire for the Corvette which is long enough for me to make a lead out of it to the coil

 

Also, Make sure to use the Pertronix coil . I have been running Pertronix for 10 plus years.

 

That or make sure the coil you have is within the resistance specifications that Pertronix outline in the paperwork.
It'll work with one that is not within spec, however doing that puts you at a much higher risk of burning the Pertronix unit up.
I measured my coil, mid 60's Chevy unit, and it was correct. Wired in with ballast as per Petronix diagram but the actual Pertronix unit sources its' power from before the ballast (direct key power). Required running an extra wire back to the key side of the resistor.
It's been great, watching the strobe light on the pulley through the rev range is now much more stable, which has brought a noticably improved midrange running (I think my points got into a harmonic wobble and were rattling/bouncing) and really improved low RPM (250-400 rpm) idle and pull-away. I like it, but I can see where people may have difficulty installing the wiring correctly and choosing to use an incompatible coil, or shorting it out etc.

Failing that, I ran a light-sensor Lumenition system for years and it was always reliable, but isn't as tidy as it requires an external box, like MSD.

 

If I go pertronix I’ll run the pertronix coil which is the 1.5 ohm blaster.

I’m supposed to pick up a 1949 218 tomorrow night that is complete and running condition so I’ll also have an IAP distributor that I could use

 

I’ve alway run the Pertronix coil on my builds. Never had an issue!

 

I am running the pertronics coil on my roadster
but
have been running the stock coil on my Tbird for over 5 years with no issues, followed the instructions
although
I do agree the flame thrower is definitely better

 

Engine I got turned out to be a 1951-1952 Dodge 230 and it has yet another IAT distributor in it, and the wires inside are actually clean

 

FYI, the Petronix was originally designed for stationary engines, including refrigeration units and fork lifts. Purchased by Per-Lux, it was marketed as the Ignitor. It was installed on Ryder Rental trucks as well UPS in town vans at the factory. Mickey Remund, Mickey Thompson’s engine guy developed the units for the Model A and early flatheads. Been running them for 40 years and the only failure was my fault due to an improper ground.

 

I now have 3 IAT-4003 distributors so modifying one of them isn’t going to effect anything. But I’m still trying to get the points working.


I ran the wire from the coil directly to the points and omitted the isolator. I had to use what was left of the original wire to make an adapter as the terminals I had just weren’t going to cut it under the cap and for sure not the rotor. Now I have a new older stock condensor, a set of points that look like they should work. Cleaned up and gapped to .020. I have very weak spark. Will not run but the tester shows some life . I’m contemplating if it’s the coil or not. It ohms at 1.7-2.1 ohms which I think is out of spec. I have a new coil but forgot to bring it with me. The only other thing could be the points, which are worn but cleaned with a file and re checked. With number 3 and 4 out of compression, being spaced out in the firing order, something tells me it should still run that way

 

one thing that sometimes happens when you are trying to get an engine running...is that the plugs get fouled, and they just won't fire, even when everything else is finally working right. So take a look at them, it might want some fresh plugs, or a good cleaning of the old ones.

 

Plugs are brand new. I took a lighter and burned off any residual fuel. They are Autolite 295. The wires are also new, spiral core parts store type wires. Originals crumbled and they were what I could get

 

Autolite 295s are available at Walmart so I think I’ll buy a set there and I’m hoping to go tomorrow night to my moms and give it another try. New coil, points and plugs

 

I doubt that. When points ignitions were on all cars, it was one of the most common breakdowns. When I worked at an IH dealership back in the day it was one of the most common cause for a road call, that and air leaks causing brakes to lock up. Pertronix may fail, but are far less likely to than points ignition.

 

Some folks love them; some folks hate them.

Mine quit on me 400 miles from home. I've got a GM Delco single point distributor in Clarence now.

 

I got the car running. I had to go back through everything but eventually it fired up. For sure it was floooded pretty good.

 

good to hear!