Are points so bad?

Turboomni

Turboomni

Old Man with a Hat
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My new to me 69 FuryIII uses points. Sure I could go out and spend 100 to 600+ dollars and end up with a MSD outfit but are points so bad? I have heard people saying the Mopar electronic ignition kit with distributor can fail and you should carry an extra box with you etc.
If my current distributor has no shaft play and in good condition it should be fine on a stock 440 shouldn't it? Or do they really run better with the upgrade? I had a 69 Cutlass years ago and sprung for an MSD box. I thought it ran better but who knows. Are there any reliability issues with the stock points setup? If not I could throw some money elsewhere on the car.
 
Hooo boy, stirring this one up again, are you? There are two schools of thought on this one and they do not agree. Years ago I upgraded my points using the MP conversion kit, (like 30 or so), and was never happy so ended up back to points. I still run points in the 65, over 400K miles so far. Yeah, you routinely have to replace them and they can be a pain to get set properly, but they're simple and a spare set takes up little room.
 
Ooops sorry if was tugging on a old scab!! Lol! Thankyou for your reply. I am going to stick with points for now. I wonder if I still have my old tack/dwell meter??
 
1) Bonus points to you for actually considering the cost/benefit ratio. The way people like to throw parts at imaginary problems explains why the government spends $500 for a toilet seat.

2) Bonus points to me for coming up with the awesome pun.

3) Remember what it is that ignition points actually do... they turn the coil on/off. When it does that, it collapses a magnetic field and induces a high-voltage (which is then sent to the spark plugs). Thus the points themselves have no effect on high voltage at the coil.

4) This mechanical switching arrangement of course has its limitations. At very high RPMS, such as those seen when holding a gear at the engine's redline, they can "bounce", resulting in an improperly timed burst of HV = misfire. Is that likely to be a problem in our slow-revving, toquey big-blocks that rarely see 4500 rpm? No.

5) Anything with moving parts can wear out. That's why Chrysler got rid of points when transistorized switching systems because reliable and economical. One less warranty adjustment on Miss Fussbudget's slant six Valiant during her 5/50,000 warranty. Is that likely to be an issue in our Sunday-drive, sub-5000 annual mile collector cars? No.

Your money is better spent elsewhere.
 
Very well put and thanks. That is what I thought too. This is not a high revving engine at all and I plan on keeping it that way. Points it is!! Old school all the way!!
Cool!! I love it.
 
From 94 to about 97 I drove a 68 NYer daily. I put 40k on it in that time. I think I changed the points once, and probably unnecessarily. I was 20 and learning how to work on cars, what more can I say. I'll be leaving the points in the NYer I have now. I never used to carry spares, but I may now since less and less parts store carry parts for our beloved cars.
 
Who makes a good set of points? A part # would be appreciated.
 
The problem that often comes up is the quality of replacement parts. I remember my dad complaining about the quality of new ignition points over thirty years ago. One advantage to points is they usually fail gradually. Engine performance suffers as they wear. Electronic modules typically fail without warning.
 
I like points; always found them quite reliable and wouldn't even dream of converting to electronic
 
Points are more than fine for a weekend Dairy Queen runner. Will last forever.

If I was doing a 6,000 mi. cross country round trip, I'd do the conversion.

Like said above... Cost/benefit ratio.
 
Here's the biggest problem with points.... Some guys don't know WTF they are doing and when they can't get the car to run correctly, they go running for the "upgrade". That seems to be an across the board response to many things on our cars, but I digress.

Anyway... For most cars, staying with the points is just fine. You have to keep them adjusted correctly and the faces clean and square with each other. If you can do that, you are going to be fine.

The Mopar electronic ignition is a good upgrade, especially with a car that is driven often. I've had very good luck with reliability, but I've always used good quality parts.
 
Big_John said:
You have to keep them adjusted correctly and the faces clean and square with each other. If you can do that, you are going to be fine.
Click to expand...

Plan on this being fairly often if you are driving it a lot AND want consistency and performance vs just it "it works why change it" for your leisurely drives w/o any stress testing. Both are fine depending on how much you like fiddling with points and ever changing performance. The latter may not matter or be noticed by you depending on how you use it and how much.

No problem spending money elsewhere and re-thinking it later. Hopefully someone will give you the answer to where to get good points. I sure don't know.
 
Why anyone hasn't mentioned a Pertronix is beyond me? As easy to install as it is to change a set of points. Plus, you'll never have to dick with them again.
 
stubs300 said:
Why anyone hasn't mentioned a Pertronix is beyond me? As easy to install as it is to change a set of points. Plus, you'll never have to dick with them again.
Click to expand...

Well he kind of left what kind of electronic upgrade kind of open ended even if he listed some examples.
 
stubs300 said:
Why anyone hasn't mentioned a Pertronix is beyond me? As easy to install as it is to change a set of points. Plus, you'll never have to dick with them again.
Click to expand...
'Cause you beat me to it! First, I think it's a matter of preference now. There's nothing wrong with leaving the points in the car if you're comfortable with setting the points with the feeler gauges and maybe a dwell meter then keep the points. Back in the day my dad taught me how to do it and I was pretty decent at it. But then after having not done it for a lot of years and trying to do it again I was having problems getting it right. So I've now put a Pertronix II in my '65 Formula S, '69 Road Runner and I just put them in my '69, 383 Fury. I do feel that the cars start and run better now. With the Fury I was starting to notice that at stops in traffic it had a rough idle that has now smoothed out. So to me it was worth it and I won't have to worry about cleaning or readjusting points anymore. But, just in case I do keep the parts for the points in the cars 'cause you never know what might happen!
 
stubs300 said:
Why anyone hasn't mentioned a Pertronix is beyond me? As easy to install as it is to change a set of points. Plus, you'll never have to dick with them again.
Click to expand...
I completely agree. This is the easiest, most trouble-free conversion I have done on a car of this era, and the consistency alone has been more than worth it. It seems to be very stable means of spark delivery. It is also very inexpensive.
 
Thanks to all for your thoughts. I will have to mull it over as there is no rush. My Fury was supposed to be delivered to me today but no such luck.
 
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