Pertronix - if I can do this, so can you!

[Carl Severa]

Over the last number of months I have read both sides of the argument for installing one of the Pertronix products and getting rid of the old points and condenser arrangement. My skill level with anything mechanical is just above zero. Yet, I took the risk of buying the product 1381A and the suggested coil and installed these with minimal difficulty on my 1969 Dodge Monaco with a mostly stock 383 4 Barrel . On the second turn of the key the car fired up. I have not driven the car for maybe a hundred yards to move it from one spot on my property to another. I do need to get it road tested and then probably adjust the timing a little, but I believe the cost was well worth the effort it's save me in having the car hauled from its current location down to the nearest service station and then pay them to set new set of points that I would have replaced the old set of Points with. Anyway, for what it's worth, I'm glad I tried the product and hope I'll be is happy with it as I am now down the road. Thank you for everyone who's contributed on both sides of this argument as I've learned a great deal in the process. Carl

 

[RagTop66]

Over the last number of months I have read both sides of the argument for installing one of the Pertronix products and getting rid of the old points and condenser arrangement. My skill level with anything mechanical is just above zero. Yet, I took the risk of buying the product 1381A and the suggested coil and installed these with minimal difficulty on my 1969 Dodge Monaco with a mostly stock 383 4 Barrel . On the second turn of the key the car fired up. I have not driven the car for maybe a hundred yards to move it from one spot on my property to another. I do need to get it road tested and then probably adjust the timing a little, but I believe the cost was well worth the effort it's save me in having the car hauled from its current location down to the nearest service station and then pay them to set new set of points that I would have replaced the old set of Points with. Anyway, for what it's worth, I'm glad I tried the product and hope I'll be is happy with it as I am now down the road. Thank you for everyone who's contributed on both sides of this argument as I've learned a great deal in the process. Carl

I totally agree! I had Pertronix on my 383 and was very happy with it

 

[stubs300]

I'm runnin 2 sets of Pertronix, 383 and a /6 for well over 25 years in each unit. I have no complaints to date! Good Luck

 

[Northcoast300h]

Been using Pertronix for 10 yrs with great success, however I had problems at first. 1) I had to play around with coils to see which one was best. 1st coil burned up on highway and while trying to stall, it blew the mufflers off with huge backfires. Then I tried a Pertronix coil matched to the Ignitor system, but still ran kind of hot, so I moved coil to a cooler area 2) Later, I tried the Pertronix Igniter 3, but I could never get car to run smoothly, so went back to standard Pertronix Ignitor. 3) I'm running a really worn out distributor, so Pertronix won't solve that. I've never cared about speeding around, but I'll be changing out the whole distributor later this year. Maybe that will solve the only issue I have which is when I punch it, the car never knows what to do. Its always a surprise. Gradually accelerating is no problem. I've tried 3 different carbs and was like that with points too, so I really hope the problem is the distributor.

Oh and you probably know not to screw around with a hot coil. It could blow up and blind you.

 

[413]

These is nothing hard about installing and adjusting points.

How did we get from 1900 to the electronic ignition days? With points!

 

[detmatt]

These is nothing hard about installing and adjusting points.

How did we get from 1900 to the electronic ignition days? With points!

Well you didn’t have many choices...

 

[CBODY67]

Well you didn’t have many choices...

There WERE some choices which used the points as a low-voltage switch for a capacitive discharge sytstem that generally promised better performance and such. That was ALSO when all point sets came with a little vial of point breaker cam grease in them, too!

But the KEY thing was that everybody knew how to change and adjust ignition points. A common situation, back then. The number of "everybody" has been dwindling since about 1972 and it will continue well into the future.

In more modern times, Iridium spark plugs (as in NGK Iridium, for example), an electronic ignition system, good plug wires, and a clean-running engine CAN mean "no more maintenance" in that area for quite some time. That's the part I like about electronic ignitions.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67

 

[Welder guy]

There WERE some choices which used the points as a low-voltage switch for a capacitive discharge sytstem that generally promised better performance and such. That was ALSO when all point sets came with a little vial of point breaker cam grease in them, too!

But the KEY thing was that everybody knew how to change and adjust ignition points. A common situation, back then. The number of "everybody" has been dwindling since about 1972 and it will continue well into the future.

In more modern times, Iridium spark plugs (as in NGK Iridium, for example), an electronic ignition system, good plug wires, and a clean-running engine CAN mean "no more maintenance" in that area for quite some time. That's the part I like about electronic ignitions.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67

Not to hijack the post but What NGk plugs are you running, the number ? I find my last couple sets of champions fouled up way too soon .

 

[69PHOENIX]

Only Problem with Modern Electronic Ignitions is that if you break down 300 Miles into the Desert You WALK! Tony.M

 

[The Goose]

I run points with no drama. Points (me) or pertronix (my brother loves them) no matter your preference the one easy thing you can do to keep from walking in the desert is to keep an extra set up distributor in the trunk. For me it’s easier to throw in a distributor than to change points at night or on a hot motor. With the distributor wrench it’s a 10 min job if you clock and mark them beforehand.

Glad you like the set up. Every little fix is a step in the right direction!

 

[1966newport]

junk, was left on side of road twice when they failed

 

[detmatt]

I run Pertronix in my Silver car with many thousands of trouble free miles and I absolutely love it but I do keep a full points distributor and new ballast resistor in the trunk just in case.

 

[halifaxhops]

Definitely both have pros and cons. Points will wear out and new condensers suck badly. Yes when they go they go but if the condenser is good you can usually re gap them and get it home. Better to have a spare set in the glove box. Petronix I really like also. Seems if they fail it is usually out of the box or wrong coil. Biggest draw back is no parts stores will have one on the shelf, but little to no maintenance with them except the normal oil the felt pad under the rotor once a year which you should do with both systems. Just my $.02

 

[NY69]

Switched over to Pertonix this year and happy so far.
I like running on points though (as long as it's a single point type of system) and would never have switched if I would have been able to get hold of decent quality replacement parts here in Europe. Got sick of dealing with fried points every 1000 miles

 

[stubs300]

I also have a friend that was asking me for advice for his VW because he had trouble starting it. He installed a Pertronix and was surprised by how quick the VW starts, accelerates, smother idle now. Good Luck

 

[413]

Switched over to Pertonix this year and happy so far.
I like running on points though (as long as it's a single point type of system) and would never have switched if I would have been able to get hold of decent quality replacement parts here in Europe. Got sick of dealing with fried points every 1000 miles

Please tell us more details on how the points are fried in 1000 miles. That is not normal, there is a problem someplace in the system.

 

[halifaxhops]

Has to be a shorted condenser.

 

[Joseph James]

Congratulations on the Pertronix install.

I’m still running points in my daily. No problems so far but I do plan on getting some NOS points from @halifaxhops .

 

[Newport 664door]

Over the last number of months I have read both sides of the argument for installing one of the Pertronix products and getting rid of the old points and condenser arrangement. My skill level with anything mechanical is just above zero. Yet, I took the risk of buying the product 1381A and the suggested coil and installed these with minimal difficulty on my 1969 Dodge Monaco with a mostly stock 383 4 Barrel . On the second turn of the key the car fired up. I have not driven the car for maybe a hundred yards to move it from one spot on my property to another. I do need to get it road tested and then probably adjust the timing a little, but I believe the cost was well worth the effort it's save me in having the car hauled from its current location down to the nearest service station and then pay them to set new set of points that I would have replaced the old set of Points with. Anyway, for what it's worth, I'm glad I tried the product and hope I'll be is happy with it as I am now down the road. Thank you for everyone who's contributed on both sides of this argument as I've learned a great deal in the process. Carl

 

[Newport 664door]

I did the same thing on my 1966 383 newport. Igniter 2 i installed, it's supposed to adjust dwell etc . It does say to bypass the ballast resister, does this cause a problem? My car fired right up after a 25 year slumber and running good ever since. I happy with it.