Technical Flathead Pertronix ignition upgrade questions

It's pretty common for people to ***ume the ignition system is 100% squared away when tuning ("all brand new parts!") whether they are running a point system or one of the point replacement modules like Accel or Pertronix.

An ignition scope takes the guesswork out and will show any defects in parts, voltages, wiring, or mismatched components etc right away.

 

Thanks for chiming in with your Pertronix experience Ronnie, it's good to get feedback like this from someone with your background. Pertronix tends to take an unfair beating around this place.

 

I have had only one issue with the Pertronix. I was out for a drive and stopped in a place for lunch and left the headlights on for ten minutes. It wasn't a complete drain, but the old 6 volt Optima battery was struggling to turn the motor. I convinced a couple of guys to give me a push so I can pop the clutch. After two attempts without even a sputter, they decided to bail. Having a past similar problem, my Harley with a Power commander it would not let the motor fire if there was the slightest of low voltage in the battery. I changed out the Pertronix to points and condenser in the parking lot, it barely turned over but fired up. I thought possibly the Pertronix was cooked. Once back in the barn, reinstalled it with a new battery and have not had a problem since.

 

Does anyone make/offer old timey. cloth covered suppression wire sets for old Fords? I got my wires from Tyree Harris and I have to ***ume they are copper core. I forgot to ask for suppression wires when I ordered my kit from him.

 

Yes, Brillman Company offers them.

https://brillman.com/shop/

 

You absolutely cannot use copper core wires with the Pertronix. Any resistance wire with 500-1000 ohms per foot will work great.
The points issue you were having sounds like the coil overheating, which usually points at connection issues at the plugs/wires and way too much resistance. Ohm your old plugs and wires, making sure you don’t exceed 5000 ohms per cylinder. I bet either your plugs or wires are very high resistance!!!
Yes, I do this for a living, just not typically for Fords. Bubba can do those.

 

Looked on their site. Brillman's cloth covered suppression wire is 7.8mm. I'm concerned I won't be able to pull these through the stock wire loom tubes. Anyone have experience with their 7.8mm wire? I would really like to use cloth covered wire if possible.

 

Sacramento Vintage Ford has cloth covered plug wires. Not sure if diameter.

 

I was under the impression that metal wire looms could mess with the Pertronix. Maybe that's an old thing?

 

Mine. Brillman wires inside SS tubes that I adapted to bolt to the intake and my pruned blower. MSD system, no crossfire.

 

Changing points on my crab distributor was a pain in the *** so, for that reason alone I justified going with the Petronix module. Never had a problem and fires up faster than the old set up and timing was right on. Coincidently running the same on my wife's cl***ic Mustang for about ten years without an issue. Additionally the ignition parts available are absolutely **** many if not all are foreign sourced. Had another car fail to start due to a faulty "new" condenser. $9.00 part left my son stranded. Has since converted to Petronix as well.