Points or electronic ignition

falcon_master

Well-known member
Hi everyone. I was talking to my uncle recently about what I did to fix my points and he highly advised me to go to electronic ignition. If I were I would go to petronics. My question here is there any pro to running points besides simplicity. And if I go to petronics am I going to have to get a different coil to because I hear these burn out from other coils. Will I have to redo my ignition system again? Like I heard if you turn the car to run but don't start it it will fry the petronics. Thanks everyone
 
Hi, if it runs good now I would leave it alone. There is nothing wrong with points and condenser as long as you know how to maintain it.
If the distributor shaft is worn, the Pertronix won't work correctly anyway.
If you get a Pertronix ignitor get the flamethrower coil and follow the instructions.
Good luck
 
I put a pertronix kit in our Mustang with a 170 about 5 years ago and have never had an issue. The car starts easily and has been super reliable. It is about a 30 minute installation if that. If memory serves me correctly there was one wiring modification to the resistor wire on the factory harness (the pink wire), replace the coil with a 12V unit and the rest was plug and play. There are a ton of YouTube videos that can walk you through it. With that said I always carry a spare pertronix pickup in the glove box, just the same way I use to carry an extra set of points and condenser before the conversion.

From what I have read from your previous posts, If I were in your shoes I would get the wiring cleaned up first. You are going to have to do that regardless of what type of ignition system you decide to use. Then I would do a basic tune up with a new set of points and condenser, cap, rotor, plugs and wires. All of these can be bought from http://www.rockauto.com for a minimal cost. Once the primary and secondary ignition system is in good condition you should hopefully be able to get the car to start and run consistently. Once it reliably will start and run, you can really see what you have.

I would hate to see you spend a bunch of money on a pertronix kit or cobble together the stuff to do a Duraspark conversion only to find that you need to spend a bunch more money on something major. These cars were designed to and ran for years with a breaker ignition system.

It's just my 2 cents.

Kevin
 
Thanks Kevin for your concern I will most definitely do that. Check all my wiring and connections before I doom these points. I already have a 12v coil in there with the points. I appreciate all of your guys help my falcon running and moving has been all thanks to you guys. No way I would know how to do any of this. Just finished rebuilding another engine ( nothing major just a ohv v twin). But I love the concept behind them and understanding how they work. But getting back to what I was saying I will check my wires and points and condenser see how everything else is before I cough up big bucks.bht once again thanks everyone and I hope one day to pass on know
 
I just re-read some of your latest posts to the end and see that you do have the car car running. When I last checked you were talking about a mess of wire at the ignition switch and trying to bypass it. I even watched your video which was pretty cool. I am in agreement with some of the previous post's about the distributor not being stabbed correctly. I saw a Bronco once that was running very similar to yours that was effectively 180 degrees out of time due to the distributor cap not being put on correctly. ( The cap has a small notch that lines up with the distributor case before you engage the snaps. Anyway, the owner had pulled the cap up for some reason and reinstalled it by looking at the clips and not the notch. As was stated earlier you can move the spark plug wires on the cap 1 over to account for a tooth off or you can spin the cap 180 degrees without moving the wires to see if the distributor is 180 out.

Both of those are free and wont take much time.

I will make it a point to read all of your threads from now on.

Kevin
 
If you want the best go with the DS11 or the HEI distributor.
As i've said before any distributor you have or install needs the proper advance curve for the best performance with your engine & components.
Once you go with modern electronics you will never look back.
 
over the years i have used points, and various electronic ignitions, and i have learned that a good system in good operating condition is hard to beat. a few observations;

the pertronix system is hit or miss on reliability, depending on which one you get.

as noted points are reliable, as long as they are properly maintained. the hard part these days is getting good parts for them, so when you find those good parts, and if you plan to keep the points, then buy a few points and keep some in storage for when they current ones burn out.

with all electronic ignitions you need to run the ballast resistor if the coil is supplied with one. the best electronic ignitions i have used are the factory ones. they dont have all the fancy feldergarb that the aftermarket ignitions have, so they are less expensive, and generally more reliable. you can also mix and match factory parts for the best results. for instance when i converted my old 66 falcon to electronic ignition, i used a duraspark distributor, the chrysler performance orange ignition box(called that because it is painted orange), and an MSD blaster three ignition coil. it would light a cold engine right off even in sub 30 degree weather.

and as wsa111 noted, you need to have the advance curve tuned to your particular engine combination for best results.
 
some perspective:
The '71 Maverick 170 in my '63 Wagon has run flawlessly with original POINTS ignition for @ 15 years . As long as components are in good shape and tune, there is no reason to swap. When/IF it ever has problems I may consider swapping to DSII.

haev fun
 
powerband":3p3g8kc6 said:
some perspective:
The '71 Maverick 170 in my '63 Wagon has run flawlessly with original POINTS ignition for @ 15 years . As long as components are in good shape and tune, there is no reason to swap. When/IF it ever has problems I may consider swapping to DSII.

haev fun

yep. the only reason i switched to electronic ignition is for lower maintenance. but with a properly operating point type ignition, there is no real reason to swap over.
 
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