Ford / Mercury 1951 Flathead electronic ignition

I recently purchased a 1951 Ford Coupe with a Mercury flathead engine. I have very little history on the car. I am unsure if this was a stock 1951 Ford police car with a Mercury engine, or a swap out.
I would like to install electronic ignition and was curious if there would be a difference in a 239ci Ford vs a 255ci Mercury distributor? Would they be interchangeable?
Also, any advice on which electronic ignition system to purchase?
Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

Does it run well now? You'll likely get a few differing opinions on this. One factor is whether it still retains the 6 volt, positive ground system.

 

The car has been converted to a 12 volt system.

 

OK. There would be more eyeballs on the post if it was in the regular forum. Maybe one of the forum moderators can move it. Not sure on that.

 

A lot of info has been added to your first post yesterday, if you would take the time to read it!

 

If You have the stock loadomatic distributor in it it is not the best. Vacuum advance only I use a modified GM distributor set up by Bubbas shop works great.

 

My apologies. I am new to auto restoration, and newer to this site.
My first post was moved and I am unable to locate.
Sorry for the duplication.

 

If your on a budget, I ran one of these for 2 years and 7,000 miles with no trouble.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/232421918465

There are higher priced options from Mallory and MSD. I am running the Mallory now and really like it. More period looking.

 

I ran a Pertronix on my '51 Merc V8 with great success....and I put a beatin' on it regularly. It was a stock dizzy cleaned, rebuilt, new parts throughout woth the Pertronix conversion. It was on a bored 255 Merc with a big cam, aluminum heads and dual crabs in a T bucket. That was YEARS ago. I'm sure there have been advancements in the past 20ish years.

 

Thank you for the recommendation. I had seen the CRT, but was curious of the quality at the low price as compared to Mallory or MSD.

 

I’m running the Mallory on both my 39 Ford with an 8BA and the 49 Ford with a late Mercury flattie and like them very much. They both start right up even in winter temps in the mid teens.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

The guts are basically just GM HEI stuff. Very simple, tried and true, reliable components.

 

About ten or twelve years ago I built a 255” Merc for my ‘47 Ford......bought an MSD electronic distributor and matching coil. Worked great and was the best starting Flathead I ever had......it seemed it was running before it turned a full revolution. Of course, the engine was freshly rebuilt and had a new carb, etc. in any case, IMO the OEM loadamatic deserves the poor reputation it has.

Ray