I have had Pertronix in several of my old cars never had a problem, I don't get what is going on here.
I too have had them in several cars and the one I installed in the Ranch Wagon took us to Memphis,Tennessee and Novi, Michigan not to mention to several big shows out of state, I had more than than 14,000 miles on the car when the distributor up and died on me in 5 O'clock traffic at a busy intersection in the only turn lane. I decided to put a points type distributor back in the car and haven't looked back, We like to travel and I don't want the same thing to happen again when we are a long way from home.
yup, it is threads like these that make me appreciate my points distributors more and more.. why are people so afraid of points?
I aint afraid of points. But I aint afraid of electronic ignition either. At this point trying to place blame on the Pertronix unit is illogical. He doesn't know what'[s wrong.
Fear of the unknown Say something is maintenance free and watch all the lazy people lined up to get it. Btw What happened to my thread yesterday I lost about 50 likes.
you mean the thread about you with an air filter on your head?? you're lucky that ran as long as it did...
I’ve been running a Pertronix ll for 6 years with their coil AND the stock 1956 ballast resistor. I called them before starting the installation, they are local to me, and asked about using or not using the resistor and was told either way is OK just the coil output would be lower. Prior to buying the unit I invested and read positives and negatives and found a lot about failure in coils, stock and theirs. This was the reason I chose to use the resistor. I have checked the plugs a few times and they have always looked good and need not be changed.
I’m not afraid of them either unless you consider quality of manufacture. Your lucky if the contacts line up much less last a year, If you happen to own an old Mallory dual point its tough to even find some. Napa can order them but they are $30-40 a piece and not like they used to be as far as quality. If anyone knows who makes some good ones I’m all ears.
I have been buying nos points and condenser sets at swap meets for years and have a lifetime supply of made in the usa points for all of my cars. A lot of times these were in the 1.00 pile on a guys table. I still see em for cheap and buy em when I see em. There are lots of Nos points sets for old Mallory distributors on ebay for reasonable too. shop around and don't buy the new crap....
I have bought a few off guys on here. Never lucky enough to find mine at swaps. They are getting up in price, when a pair costs damn near the same as a module it just doesn't make much sense to me. It’s my own fault for not getting a bunch when I could but it is what it is.
I was sold on the simplicity of the pointless ignition, zero maintenance is always a plus but when mine decided to take a crap, I was in a turn lane, 5 O'Clock traffic & 98 degrees I was frustrated the horns was blasting and fortunately I had a cable guy help me push the car through the intersection, horns blasting,cursing and people expressing how happy they were with me showing me I was number one! With a dead electronic ignition your not going anywhere until the ramp truck shows up, with points it might run rough but they will get you of the road and possible home. HRP
kartune , post a pic of motor & distrib - someone might spot something - Pertronix open to ask questions? - talked to whoever you bought Pertronix stuff from? - traced every wire from motor/firewall/fuse block/ignition even if does not look like damaged from fire?
Yep !!! Plus points usually let you know, slowly and subtle they tell you there’s there’s a problem coming. If you pay attention you’ll have time to correct it. The Electronica gizmo,,,, you can be happy on your way to the store and it won’t start. You can be fine yesterday and not tomorrow, stuck on the road.
I have had it with Petronix, 2 units in 3 years——went back to points,runs well. Remember,kids, points WILL get you home!!!!
'I-feel-ya-bro'!!!... Mine decided to take-a-dump on the expressway in downtown Atlanta about 5:30 PM!!! I was in the middle lane and EVERYTHING quit on the car.....Lights, ignition,TURN SIGNALS, everything. I coasted/pushed it across 2 right hand lanes and stopped under the overpass. Then a ......."home-town" come strolling up offering to help me. Said he had just been released from Fulton County jail and was trying-to-git-home!!! "You got any money"...was the first thing he said!! It ended well(I figured out what happened) and he blocked the on coming cars so I could pull back out into traffic! 6sally6
It would be nice if every thread about Pertonix didn't devolve into a bitch thread about them with the same old stories and same old lack of reasoning.
Yeah,,, How about a good old fashioned brand new pinion angle thread instead? I might start one just cuz my air filter mask thread got canned. . When Guys learned a mistake and call it facts instead of realizing a mistake and learning from it , you’ll get regurgitated opinions and reasoning that’s based on nothing sound. Oh and don’t try to make sense. You’re just going to get into a match of pigeon chess.
Maybe somebody already said this, but I was told to never, ever leave the ignition on if the engine is not running if u use Pertronix.....maybe just my flattie application, but I learned the hard way.
Pertronix products when I had them are not very forgiving like a set of points. Low voltage, accidental short, wrong coil, leave the key on and other things can cook the module in a hurry. I've went through 1 module and 1 coil and will not buy their junk no more. Can't beat a quality set of points for a daily driver in my opinion.
I vote to use points. Very rarely does a coil fail. Usually it's the condenser, often intermittent failure. Modify your emergency extra condenser. Connect a alligator clip to the housing & another to the insulated lead. If you suspect your condenser has failed, ground the test cond anywhere on the engine. Clip the isul lead to either end of the low tension wire that goes between the coil & dist. Conds fail in an open circuit condition, you can leave the suspect cond still connected. It will get you home, also take along an extra coil. Greg
I've been using points triggered CD box for decades never had any issues. I'm planning my next ignition for my 1978 truck 454. I have a 1962 iron distributor. I'll use only one set of points to run the car. I may put both set of points in and set them up so I can change timing by the flick of a switch. I have to see how many degrees difference there are between the two. I'm thinking about trying one of those new Vertex Z-6 CD boxes. Never heard anything about them, good or bad. They are made in the USA.. We used to use the Mark 10 or Tiger CD boxes. You could use solid core wires with them..
I run Pertronix in two cars, ( 40 Fords with optional SBC's), one unit was new and the other was a factory rebuild. Use their coils in both. Never had a problem, neither car runs a blast resistor.
I had the same problem. It ended up being a bad ground. I thought I had a really good ground. I didn’t I called the tech line I change distributors I called tech line. I ran a ground right to distributor. It came out to be I grounded the body but never ran a wire to the frame. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Ain't scared of points, they're getting hard to find! In Canada auto supply house stock very little for vehicles prior to the mid 90s. (The changing culture here views "old" cars with disdain) My buddy had to go to three different stores to get a set of 8 spark plugs for a mid 80s SBC.(in a city of over 100k population) I carry a spare Pertronix module in my car, soon to be joined by an aforementoned Bosch coil to avoid being stranded in Posthole,Sask
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