Electronic ignition is not traditional, stick with points. Mallory sells a filter, I got mine from Speedway, to protect electronic ignitions from voltage spikes when using a generator.
That's not true about voltage spikes from generators. I still have the generator on the 57 Fairlane with a Pertronix I. I also have a full MSD setup on my early Mustang (with generator) and no problems. I asked MSDs tech forum before running the system and they stated that it made no difference alternator or generator. Just that it needed a constant 12 volts. If your generator system is working correct you shouldn't have any problems.
How cheap are you getting electronic dizzies for Peddro? Ignitors go for around $AU 140 to my knowledge. BTW I've got a spare for a Bosch Ford W dizzy if anyone's interested. Been through 2 x pertronix coils on one engine. Both puffed up and leaked oil from the terminals in less than 500 km, as if they overheated. 2 were enough, never again. 22,000 km later the old Bosch coil from the wrecker is a ok. Having said that, I'm going to throw an Ignitor in my Mallory YL.
Put one on the flatty, it was so simple I was convinced I did something wrong. Nothin's ever that easy I thought. Works like a charm. BTW I got version I, no complaints.
I put one in my Frankencat (68 Cougar) this last spring and it has worked very well (Petronix II) A friend has been running one (Petronix I) for the last 3 years in his daily driver 65 Ford Pickup and has not had any problems. I hear that they are a bit voltage sensitive tho. Recommend one Hell yes Buy one run the **** outta it. Dawg
I've run one in my 72 911 since 1995....yeah I know it's aircooled and foreign. I need to get one for my Fairlane also.
The Pertronix unit itself has to have a good 12v source. It depends on the coil as to whether THAT needs a resistor. There are operational differences between the various models. I can't remember what applies to each but here are the differences: One model will burn out if power is left on without the engine running. Another requires the key to be turned on for a few seconds before starting, otherwise you have to crank longer (maybe to "warm up" the electronics?). I think the latest one is advertised as having "variable dwell" according to rpm.
I was going to do pertronix but got lazy and bought an hei top on a ford bottom for my 289. It wasn't very expensive either. One wire, took no time to install, no problems so far.
I'm running a pertronix and now I have a sight stumble early in the rpm range. Wide open it's fine, but off the line it's misses and stumbles. Any sugestions as to what may be going on.
Don't ya just love it. I haven't owned a car with points in it since 73. When the factories came out with dependable electronic ignition, I switched and never looked back. It was a dig at the Bias tire/ drum brake/ no SBC bunch. Where I used to work, we had several hundred Fork lifts, and the all got a Pertronix, when they came in the door. Granted, half of them failed the first week, but if the made it past that, they lasted forever. Personal use, I haven't had good luck with them. Both time I tried one, they failed, and the decond time, it blew up the coil too, with the ensuing fire and rewire to deal with. For my personal cars, I use Mallory Unilite conversion in a window cap Delco, no problems in 14 years, or an HEI conversion in the same window cap distributor. For Fords and Mopars, the factory electronics are fine for me.
Yes that is what I was referring to, I was in a hurry running out the door and thru up the question and my brain was not working. Last year I bought an early Mallary with a Pertronix set up installed their flamethrower coil. from a local Pertronix dealer but could not remember if he said I needed to run the ballast or not and I am getting ready to finish the wiring of the engine compartment on the 29 and install the Dist.
I put one in the Nailhead I'm running in the C-dan. I set it up with the ballast resister cause I wasn't sure. I only have around 3k miles on it so far, but I like what I've seen. It's been through a lot of rain without a hood and my friends always seem to have trouble with their Unilites doing that. I've heard a lot more good than bad about them.
Yes, you'll need the ballast resistor or resistor wire (for the Ford guys) to cut the voltage down. If you can, opt for the marine version it has a nice little safety feature that kills the voltage at the unit after a few minutes so it doen't burn itself or the coil up....a nice feature if you happen to leave the key on or want to take the car to the drive-in and don't have an accessory line on the ignition switch. -Bigchief.
A few years ago I had a V8 Duster that I tried them in and I could never get them to work. even had a few friends check it out and all of them said they would go back to the points.yanked em' out and put the points back in and it fired right up.boxed them up shipped it back to Summit Racing and they said they couldn't give my money back til the company ok'd it cause I had installed them.As much cash as I spend at Summit I didn't want to hear that at all.It took about a month but they refunded my money after they found them to be bad.for the next 3 month Jegs got my money.after hearing all the good stories I guess I just got a bad set but I will not use em agian.
Easy hook up......has run very well in two of my friends car.......i helped them hook them up......one still has it but has also hooked a MSD 6AL into it............i run a crane xr7 in my car........works good too..........accel has a conversion kit too........but pertronix has a LOT more aplications......they even make kits for old tractors...........
Another "Thumbs-Up" for Pertronix! Running one in Accel buleprint dist. on my '67 Nova 283 for several years and it is great - I don't miss dinking-around with that Allen-wrench way in the back of that engine! Second best thing I did was to change to Bosch platinum plugs - much more reliable in a car that spends 6 months of the year under a snowbank...
Yes, if you have a ballast resistor keep it in there. They're designed to be run at about 8-10 volts. Never feed a Pertronix 12 volts on the run circuit. Some systems feed 12 volts during cranking to aid in starting. We've never had a problem with short term feeding of full voltage during cranking but a constant 12+ volts during normal use will kill them in short order. The best thing to do is verify voltage with the key in the crank position and in the run position and follow the directions with whatever system your using. If all else fails, call the geeks at the help line. It sure beats having to pop another 100 bucks for a fried ignition. -Bigchief.
Really? Ha ha.... I was reading through the posts and wondering if the "shimming the distributor" part might have been what caused your trouble over the weekend...
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