I know everyone here hates Mustangs, but I still consider '64-'66 the end of what you might call the "traditional era". My '65 Fastback is done up like a car you would have driven every day on the street and taken to a track on the weekends, with a 3x2 HiPo mill out of a Cobra. Originally it would have had a dual point distributer (it has a regular one on it now, but I do have a dual point in my garage). Should I throw the dual point on it or consider a Roto-Faze or Vertex Magneto? What would have been popular for a setup like this back then? Thanks, -Dean
I used reworked stock dual points on my mopars but if you could afford it a Mallory dualpoint was pretty popular. I also knew a couple guys that ran Vertex mags on street cars.
The popular choices would have been either a dual point from the Ford aftermarket catalog (which was damned impressive in '65) or a Mallory, the olde flattop from 1965, not related to the current model.
I bought a new mustang in '65 with a 225 HP 289. It had a single point vacuum advance distributor that I installed a Mallory dual point conversion in. About that time the first capacitive discharge ignitions were available in kit form from Heathkit if I remember right. There were also transistor ignitions available. -- Chuck
My grandfather had a '59 Buick from new until about 1968 and he ran one of those kit electronic ignitions in it. They kept it when he sold the car - last they knew, some farmer was making it into a pickup truck (!). I have the ignition setup here somewhere in fact, its still in decent shape. I almost used it on my '60 Pontiac, but then never did change it from stock points. Not sure why he didn't put it on the '69 Buick that replaced it, but I know they thought that one was too fast for them as it was (it had a 430 in it if I remember right). I wonder if I could run it on my Chevy? Probably not, since it's a 6.
Mallory Dual Point would have a logical choice then. Chrysler had been using dual points before 65 from more than one subcontractor.There were lots of gimmick ignition products available too. I've got something here called the New Improved Sparkmaster from Universal Ignition. No idea what it does but it's guaranteed tested and inspected.
In 1965 I had a 55 Chevrolet with a........SBC..... I had a Mallory distributor. If I remember......it was called a Revpol or something close.
The Spalding/Grant Flame thrower (originally red) was a hot ignition choice at the time. I got this one used about that time. They could be ordered with a vacuum advance for street use.
Back in my day, the 50's and 60's, the hot set up was the dual point distributor. If you want it period, do the dual point.
Actually I don't recall that many mags being run on the street. Although its a good choice especially if you have to drive around the huge stereo crowd. I ran Mallory ignition in the '60s. Come to think of it I still do. CD ignition moduals were pretty cool if you were a high roller. I think I might have an old CD ignition mod around here somewhere.
You can get a drop-in dual points breaker plate complete from any of the popular vintage Mustang restoration places for about $25. I bought one for my 66 Galaxie. Stock replacement for you single points breaker plate.
Im using a Mallory dual point on mine (66 289) with the old faded red cap and twin 94's!! Kinda wrong for the era but the motor is the newest thing in my car, and wanted it to look older. No Vac advance, but seems to run great on the street, I wouldnt mind trying vac advance though..might do a stock dist. with a pertronix and see how that goes.
Non vacume advance dual point (same points as 6 cylinder) 271 HP 289 (K code) distributor they where cheap as hell used cheap easy to find parts where designed for hot solid lifter cam and you could start with stock Ford 271 hp timming settings.
It was either 65 or 66 that I built the Heathkit CD for my 64 GTO. Several brands show up regularly on Ebay for cheap money. I bought a Mallory Hy-Fire recently for a new Lincoln 430 project and run a Mark 10B on my 68 396. With the high price of parts for some vintage dual points, going the CD route makes both performance AND financial sense (or is that cents?)
Hey man, I'm not running any vac on mine. vac is whack! Got the flathead running stronger, with some gentle experimentation. you'd be suprised how much extra HP you can get outof those things with the ignition leads in the right order ahaha. Danny
I just looked in some old magazines and that Spalding Flamethrower came up a few times on 289's. Any more info on those? (difficulty to run or find?). Probably just end up sticking with dual point though since I've got one kicking around here. -Thanks, Dean
I'll second everyone else. Either a factory HIPO dual point or a Mallory. In the day, mallory would have been preferred and prices now are probably the same or less for the M. I know hipo stuff is big money. Don't forget one of those big mallory coils to go with it! I run mechanical advance on the street, wouldn't go back. Start at 10* initial timing, full advance around 36-38*
Circa 1962 - 1965 I ran a DuCoil dual coil distributor on my 335" Olds Rocket in a 50 Ford coupe. Dual coils, dual points, dual condensers, double ended rotor. The coils - mounted on an engine bracket out of sight in this pic were K-Mart coils. (Mounted on the engine because I was trying to keep the firewall clean and the only bolts visible through the firewall were stock ones.) The K-Mart coils were selected due to a magazine article that tested coils on a home-made ignition tester spinning a distributor in a lathe and using an adjustable span spark-gap device. The hot rod coils were best, but the K-Mart coils weren't far behind and were better than the stock coils tested. At $5.00 apiece, how could a guy go wrong. The DuCoil worked great on the built Olds engine that ran to 6200 rpm. They did just as well on the 7500 rpm Chevy's . . . now known as small blocks. Dual point igntions were popular at the time and more than a few street runners had them along with a hot rod coil. It made for a pretty good ignition and the little FoMoCo engine in street trim didn't seem to have any problems reaching max rpm with the dual point.
I built two dwell extenders about '70 from plans in Popular Science. It was neat to watch th eengine analyzer go off the scale when they were hooked up. They were SCR controlled, which eventually burned up. I stick a Pertronix under the cap of all my points stuff now.
I understand the want to look "period", and I'm probably a bit more nostalgic than most (well, maybe not on THIS board!), but there's no reason to subject any motor to points! A good electronic ignition will make any engine run better. I don't think anyone will try to tell me points are better than electronic ignition! The only advantage is they are cheap and easy to replace on the road, whereas if your electronic ignition goes out you just lost the paddle. The flip side is electronic ignition RARELY goes out, you're more likely to have a problem with points burning or working loose, or a condenser fail. 286merc and lowsquire already mentioned this. With the Pertronix you just run a hot wire to the dsitributor and screw it in place of the points. Cap, rotor, and wires stay stock. You have to look close to see the extra wire, especially if you make it black. Looks period, runs modern. I've even seen a single Pertronix unit in one of the old factory dual point distributors (not dual Pertronix units though!). And if you're really leery of the electronic unit, keep a set of points in the glove box. Everyone makes a bad part every now and then, even Pertronix. All you have to do is pop the points back in and tape off the hot wire.
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