PERTRONIX IGNITOR

havoline

Well-known member
WELL FOR MANY YEARS AVOIDED DOING SO, AND NOW I HAVE DONE IT. INSTALLED THE PERTRONIX IGNITOR 1 ON MY CAR.

1965 MUSTANG 200CID
HAS 40000 VOLT FLAMETHROWER AND 8 MM WIRES.
POINTS ARE MANY YEARS OLD. I PUT IN NEW SPARK PLUGS AND CHECKED GAP AT .035 INCHES
BEFORE CONVERSION STARTED UP ABIT ROUGH BUT STARTED STRONG. HAVE IDLE SET AT 900 SO WILL RUN SMOOTH.
AFTER CONVERSION STARTED UP QUICKER BUT WAS ROUGHER THAN EVER BEFORE. RUNS AT AROUND 500 AND WHEN PUT INTO GEAR AT AROUND 350 OR LESS.

WAS MY TIMING RESET???? I PUT POSITIVE CABLE OF IGNITOR AT POSITIVE PART OF RESISTOR. STILL LEFT THE GROUND WIRE ON THE PLATE IN THE DISTRIBUTOR CONNECTED SO I SHOULDNT HAVE A GROUND PROBLEM. HAVE THE AIR GAP AT .03 INCHES AND ITS TIGHTENED DOWN.

WHAT SHOULD THE TIMING BE SET AT???? NEVER REALLY HAD TO DO IT BEEN RUNNING WELL ALL THESE YEARS.

AND WHEN ACCELERATING THE ENGINE HAS HARD TIME GETTING TO 3000 RPM WHICH IS WHERE IT BASICALLY STOPS. DOESNT HAVE A VACUUM LEAK CAUSE i HAVE A GAUGE ALREADY INSTALLED BUT AT 500 RPM THE VACUUM IS AT 20+-1. VERY HIGH FOR A LOW RPM.

OPINIONS??

WHAT SHOULD I DO?

HELP?
 
All you need to do is set the timing. You can probably turn the distributor clockwise a hair and get better results. I don't remember the specs off hand, but I do have a chilton I can look up when I get home... if I remember to. Got a timing light and vacuum gauge?
 
First off, set your timing in Drive. Since it starts and runs, you know the gizmo is working. With a hotter coil you can run one step colder plugs and widen the gap to .050 (or whatever that big gapper thingy reads) for big fat spark. You can get it up to snuff with one of two methods: vacuum gauge or timing light and dwell tach.

I recommend you start with the vacuum gauge for its simplicity (and low cost: $20 - $30).

Before you proceed, block the wheels and pull the E-brake. Gentleman, start your engine, When warm, drop it in D. Hook the vac gauge to the manifold vacuum source. This will be a block with several nipples on the side of the log or A nipple there, not on the carb throat.

Read the dial. It's probably lower than 18*. That is your minimum. Turn the distributor one way or the other until you achieve maximum vacuum. Tighten the distributor. It's nice if you have a dwell tach at this point because you can set the idle to spec, which is between 700 and 800 RPM in Drive.

Now, you can fiddle with your idle fuel/air mix. Find the A/F screw (below all the cams and sliders and stuff on the rear of the carb) and screw it in (clockwise) until the engine just starts to stumble. Then back it out slowly until you find max vacuum. Should be something above 18* of vacuum. Bump it just a bit more and you should be good to go.

Having said all that, you probably will have to rattle back and forth between the idle speed and the idle mix to get it to stabilize at some point above 18* AND at +/- 750 RPM.

At this point, you can check your vacuum advance to see if it is kicking in at higher RPM. If it won't hold the revs, you may have a leak or a faulty vacuum advance can. If you have a dwell tach and light, you can fine tune it from here.

I found that I had to lean the fuel mix out quite a bit because the PTX will burn more fuel more efficiently per stroke and the car was definitely peppier. If it continues to stumble at speed, you will have to do a little detective work.

Make sure you are not running too lean. This leads to overheating. Also, if you have a knock under load, back the diz off a touch or two until it goes away. That or run higher octane gas. I did both.
 
WELL,....

I LOOSENED THE DISTRIBUTOR, PLUGGED VACUUM LINE FROM DIAPHRAM, USED TIMING LIGHT, TURNED CAR ON, BUT I DID NOT SEE THE MARKING LIGHTS AT ALL. THE DIAPHRAM WAS POSITIONED CLOSE TO THE WALL OF THE BLOCK SO I WAS ONLY ABLE TO TURN IT COUNTERCLOCKWISE ABOUT LESS THAN AN INCH BEFORE THE METAL LEAD LINE FROM THE DIAPHRAM HITS THE BLOCK. THERE IS SLIGHT IMPROVEMENT FROM THE RPM, BUT IS STILL AT AROUND 550 AND RUNS ROUGH AND SOUNDS LIKE ITS UNDER LOAD STILL. I MOVE THE TIMING LIGHT UP THE ALTERNATOR BELT AND I THINK I SEE THE TIMING LIGHTS BUT THEY ARE ALL SCATTERED ABOUT 5-6 INCHES ABOVE WHERE THE MARKINGS ON THE BLOCK ARE SUPPOSED TO BE. SO IS IT POSSIBLE THAT MY TIMING IS BELOW 20 OR 30 DEGREES BTDC? I CAN MOVE THE DISTRIBUTOR ALOT CLOCKWISE BUT ONLY MAKES THE CAR RUN WORSE AND RPM SOMEHOW GOES TO 300 RPM( DIDNT THINK IT COULD HANDLE THAT WITHOUT STALLING).

IF I REMOVE THE DISTRIBUTOR AND RELOCATE IT ALOT IN A CLOCKWISE POSITION THIS WOULD SOLVE MY CLEARANCE PROBLEM BUT WOULD IT WORK?

NEED ABIT OF GUIDENCE SINCE I NEVER REALLY HAD TO DO MY TIMING BEFORE ESPECIALLY REMOVING THE DISTRIBUTOR.


IS IT POSSIBLE THAT I STILL DONT HAVE ENOUGH POWER GOING TO THE PERTRONIX???

PLEASE HELP.
 
You can re-install the distributor farther over in the clockwise direction. Pull it out and turn it, but make sure you have turned it enough to jump over a whole tooth. I had to do this as well. The fact that it got better when you turned it counter-clockwise toward the block shows that it is a timing problem. Start there. As for power, you need the juice to the coil not the Pertronix unit.

If you did it this way, you are in good shape:
http://www.geocities.com/rustobucket/Mu ... nix-2.html
 
That should be a load o mattic. Isnt there a different timing procedure for those?

If you pull it out and move it a tooth or two that should get the vacuum can away from the block. You may have to use a socket to slightly turn the oil pump drive shaft so the distributor will drop all the way back down.

Its possible that your balancer / crank pulley has slipped so the mark no longer is in the correct spot. There is rubber between the inner hub part and the outer part where the mark is so after the rubber gets hard and dry it can slip.
 
well, now my car wont start at all, and occasionally backfires. tried putting it back to where it was but didnt matter. Put the marking of the balancer to TDC and out the component of the distributor facing the #1 spark and nothing changed. Do not know what to do. I shouldnt have touched it. My car was running ruff but was still running, then I put in the pertronix and now everything has gone to hell.


I dont know what to do.

does anyone know anywhere in fresno of clovis that deals with old cars??? Gonna have to get it towed and fixed by a real mechanic. Unless a miracle answer appears.
 
havoline":3q2svjcy said:
SO IS IT POSSIBLE THAT MY TIMING IS BELOW 20 OR 30 DEGREES BTDC?

I think it is more likely your harmonic balancer/pulley has slipped as fordconvert suggests. If you're willing to give it one more shot before sending it to the mechanic, you could find TDC manualy. One way is to remove the spark plug on #1, put your thumb over the hole and bump the starter until you feel pressure at the spark plug hole...this would mean your on compression stroke. Once you're there use a small 'good' flashlight or probe (screwdriver can work in this situation) and rotate the crank by hand only...visually verifying the piston is at the top of the stroke (eg you'll see the screwdriver rise to a peak in the spark plug hole then drop back down...you can rotate it backwards to make sure you're at the peak...ie piston at top on compression stroke). Regardless of what your pulley/balancer mark reads, take some whiteout and make a mark on the pulley directly next to TDC on the timing cover. There are actual probes made for use in the spark plug hole and finding TDC, and it can also be confirmed by removing the valve cover and ensuring that both valves are closed as #1 piston approaches the top of it's stroke, but the thumb check is probably the quickest/dirtiest method.

Kind of hindsight here, but if you rotated the dizzy clockwise originally to make clearance for the vaccum canister line, it would have been important to re-stab the dizzy with the rotor in the same relative position to maintain the timing set before re-stab (think of distributor housing as the face of the clock and the rotor as the hour hand...if dizzy is rotated a quarter turn/15 min, rotor must also be rotated exactly a quarter turn/15 min to maintain last timing set..if you rotate the dizzy housing but restab with rotor in original position, you've retarded timing). If your mark was jumping around, you could have a misfiring plug wire/cylinder, or a worn breaker plate assuming you were setting timing with advance disconnected/plugged, or a really worn out balancer/pulley.

EDIT:
havoline":3q2svjcy said:
well, now my car wont start at all, and occasionally backfires. tried putting it back to where it was but didnt matter. Put the marking of the balancer to TDC and out the component of the distributor facing the #1 spark and nothing changed.
Should also note that if you pulled dizzy and restabbed at TDC it is possible you stabbed it '180* out', especially given how it is running now...which I believe is the case. If this is the case you would want to line up rotor with #1 plug wire, turn crank exactly one revolution till mark is back at TDC (rotor will likely now be pointing near #4 plug wire), pull dizzy and restab with rotor lined up at #1 again, instead of #4. This may fall under TMI, but it takes two full crank revolutions to complete all 4 cyles, intake, compression, combustion, exhaust.
Good luck!
 
HERE IS THE SITUATION: COULD NOT GET IT TO WORK SO I HAD IT TOWED TO WHERE THEY COULD DO INSTALL IT PROPERLY AND HAVE IT TIMED TO WHERE IT WAS SMOOTH. NOW, GOT IT BACK, PAID ALOT MORE THAN I SHOULD HAVE, AND GOT RIPPED OFF. IT IS EXACTLY THE SAME AS BEFORE I REMOVED THE DISTRIBUTOR TO HAVE IT RETIMED. IT IS ROUGH, AND THE BEST PART WAS I DROVE IT HOME, AND IT WAS A NIGHTMARE. NOT SURE IF MY TACH IS ALL WRONG BUT IT WAS RUNNING AT 43 MPH AT 1100 RPM AND WHEN I ACCELERATED IN 2 OR 3 GEAR AT 800 RPM THE CAR SHUCK UNCONTROLLIBLY. DIDNT BACK FIRE BUT UNDER HAD ACCELERATION MAYBE THERE WAS KNOCKING BUT FELT LIKE RATTLE. MY VACUUM GAUGE IS STILL AT 650 RPM IN IDLE AT 19 VERY STABLE BUT WHEN ACCLERATING AS HARD AS I CAN IT GOES TO 3. I DONT THINK THE CAR WILL BE ABLE TO GO PAST 60 MPH IT WAS HARD VERY VERY VERY HARD TO ACCELERATE. THE CAR AT IDLE OR IN GEAR VERY LOW RPM AND SOUNDS VERY ROUGH LIKE IT IS UNDER LOAD THE ENTIRE TIME IS SMOOTH, NO BURBS, NO SPITTING, NO RANDOM SHAKES.

WHAT ARE THE POSSIBILITIES OF THIS COCK-UP???????????

WOULD A BAD MAGNETIC RING THAT GOES ON THE SHAFT WHERE THE ROTOR GOES MAKE THIS HAPPEN? COULD IT STILL BE TIMING? DONT KNOW WHAT IT IS NOW BECAUSE I WAS TOLD THAT MY HARMONIC BALANCER WAS BAD. I BELIEVE IT BUT HAVE NOT HAD TO HAVE THE CAR RETIMED SINCE I FIRST GOT IT IN 2000. AND THIS HAS NEVER EVER EVER EVER HAPPENED. OH AND I PUNCHED IT AS HARD AS I COULD IN NEUTRAL AND IT CAN ONLY GO TO 3000 RPM. USED TO GO PAST 5000. I AM MAD. I AM SCARED. CONCERNED. SPENT ALOT OF MONEY TO END BACK WHERE I WAS.
 
One thing I didn't see you mention is if you installed the Pertronix to a 12v power source, not the pink resistor wire. That will cause problems, do a search and you'll find lot's of info here on how to properly install.

You can also swap back to points pretty quickly and cheaply to isolate if it's the Pertronixs, they are very well made and reliable, but nothing is perfect.

Isn't Mustangs Etc. in that area??? If they're not close enough, they might be able to recommend a Fresno mechanic.
 
Williboy":3h2ndttt said:
You can also swap back to points pretty quickly and cheaply to isolate if it's the Pertronixs

This may be the best idea at this point.

EDIT: Talking out my tailpipe about the resistor wire :oops: ...not the first time probably won't be the last.
Searching within the forum is still a problem, may want to try:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=pe ... f&oq=&aqi=
http://home.teleport.com/~cosa/vap/tech ... txhome.htm

One other thought or thing confusing me is how your rpm's have dropped so much, assuming you have not adjusted the idle down, and timing has not been retarded. That and the rough idle still seem to suggest the possiblility of a missing cylinder. A quick test would be to disconnect each plug wire one at a time, with the car running, and see if it affects the idle...if disconnecting any one plug wire does not make the idle worse, or car die, then you would have found your culprit. (Editorial: I've had trouble with Accel wires in the past...won't use them).
Good luck!
 
Havoline, Curious as to what carburetor you are running??? The reason I ask, and I know that I am going in a different direction here with my question than the previous posts, but in your initial post you wrote: "BEFORE CONVERSION STARTED UP ABIT ROUGH BUT STARTED STRONG. HAVE IDLE SET AT 900 SO WILL RUN SMOOTH." Since you said that your engine "started up abit rough" before your conversion, I am wondering if it could be a carb problem instead of any problem with the Pertronix Ignitor??? Your problem sounds similar to when I installed a new (to me)/rebuilt Autolite 1100 carb on my 200cid engine. I started off with the fuel-mixture screw turned out 'only' 1 and 1/2 turns, and the only way I could keep the engine running was to advance the idle up to 900 or so rpm (like yourself). I then found out that the initial fuel-mixture setting for my particular carb should be closer to 3 and 1/2 to 4 and 1/2 turns out. This made all the difference in the world for me. I just thought I would throw this out there! Good luck; hope you find the problem. James
 
a few ideas have come to mind.

I have the wire hooked up to the resistor at the end facing the firewall.

I am also nervous when I saw the magnetic ring that came with the pertronix that all the magnets are held by tape only. and it is easy to peal off. is it possible to buy another that is made more properly anywhere????

my car never had a problem starting but was abit rough but when I took the spark plugs out before replacing the gap on half of them was closed due to deposits. after replacing I knew the car was smoother but not as smooth as it has ever run until I noticed the points. one point had melted with the other and had it broken it from its place but even with this the car still managed to run so much better compared to what it is running now.

should I hook up the wire for the pertronix directly to the positive terminal on the solenoid for direct power?? see how that works?

can you have a cylinder not firing and still have 19 * reading on the vacuum gauge at idle?

if I take a video of all this and post it would that help? but how can I do that its been a while and forgot how to post one.
 
ok ok ok I did it and I think I know whats wrong.



cylinders 1 and 3 are not firing.

module obviously works. explains why the mechanics couldnt get it timed but they spend 2 hours on it and never figured that out. stupid idiots. number 1 cylinder not firing. they couldnt get the timing light to come on cause nothing was going to the spark plug. spark plug wires are good. I think its the magnetic sleeve. I can change the wires out and see what happens but if it continues to be that way then I need a new sleeve. does pep boys, kragen, napa, autozone, places like that only sell parts like that or do I have to buy the whole thing???
 
havoline":1g8txfb0 said:
cylinders 1 and 3 are not firing....

number 1 cylinder not firing. they couldnt get the timing light to come on cause nothing was going to the spark plug. spark plug wires are good. I think its the magnetic sleeve. I can change the wires out and see what happens ...

Actually, the first thing I would suspect in this situation is that #1 & #3 plug wires are not good. Not unheard of to have a brand new part that's faulty.

I'd try switching one of the wires with a known good wire (an old one if you still have them/any) or switch #1 and #2 and see if your problem does not move with the wire. You can also purchase individual wires at the auto parts store, and if you decide or can take the Accel set back, I'd opt for a different brand...my $.02

As far as the magnetic sleeve goes...unfortunately I have no experience with PTX or it's components. Hopefully someone who does will chime in.
Good luck!

PS
havoline":1g8txfb0 said:
can you have a cylinder not firing and still have 19 * reading on the vacuum gauge at idle?
Yes, vacuum test is a pressure (or negative pressure) test of the system...kinda the converse of compression test just need a sealed cc and something driving the crank (4 out of 6 cylinders in this case) to roughly measure.
 
well I hate to burst the bubble of impossibilities but I fixed my car. runs smooth. good vacuum, actually can lower it down abit for now. see how it drives around tomorrow. but checked all wires everyone of them is firing, all six cylinders. smooth acceleration. will check the timing but my the way it sounds and runs, no vibrations its all good.


solution, I used a magnet to see what magnetic poles were on the magnetic sleeve and two were repelling. one was easy to remove and the other was soooooooo difficult. so pertronix messed up with the installation of the magnets. it was difficult and required alot of patience but it worked. and some how this still skipped the mechanics minds that I had two cylinders not firing. and they tell me that these cars dont run smooth and when worked on my car the way it ran was smooth for them. NOT BY A LONG SHOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


now that I know things are working like there are supposed to, how do I know that my coil is getting alot more power to the spark plugs than before?? There a way to test that?? I am thinking about regapping the plugs would it be enough to go to .04 for starters? would I see results from that?
 
havoline":1d9cxtrl said:
I fixed my car
Personally, I'd never consider that bad news ;)

Doesn't sound like it was a run of the mill problem either...good work, was just as you thought. Congrats (y)

You might want to comb through some old threads via this google link, or use some similar syntax since search is still limited (old posts have not been merged yet), otherwise hopefully someone else in the know will reply.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=pe ... f&oq=&aqi=
 
my car is fixed but it wont last and I know it.

is it standard for the pertronix magnetic sleeve to come with tap covering the magnets???

well I was driving and got 3 miles away from home when my car almost stalled. I automatically knew what had happened. looked and the tap had ripped right off and the 4 magnets were inside the distributor. took me a while and had to buy some scotch tape but got my car going again. what can be done to fix this for sure??? call pertronix and have them send me another magnet???? dont think they will but remember gauranteed for 30 months. hasnt even been a week. should I glue in the magnets?

what everyones experince with this sleeve???
 
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