Four reasons you are NOT ready for a Pertronix ignition failure!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ค. 2024
- The notchback just quit on me while "flying" down the freeway.
It sent me down a bit of a path.
I hope my experience can help others.
Can you run the wrong wires, even indefinitely?
Yes you can.
How do I know? I've done it.
As far as you'll know, everything will work "just fine", right up until the point where it doesn't.
Yeah, it'll probably get you home.. but why not just use the correct parts?
The resistance designed into suppression wires is important for an electronic ignition system and the very low resistance of a copper core wire is important to a points and condenser system. PERIOD
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00:00 Intro
09:01 Coil check / static timing
16:09 Will it run?
19:32 Root Cause Analysis - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
Now, I am going to post this BEFORE I watch the video. I installed a Pertronix Igniter electronic ignition on my '76 Honda CB-750-Four and it was the best thing I ever did! I bought the bike in Toledo, Ohio, rode it to Pittsburg where I met up with my friend Roy, and he rode his '73 Moto Guzzi 850T to Florida with me. I had had a continuing problem with the fucking points on this bike and I replaced them and set them correctly to no avail; Moisture got into the case somehow and always fouled them, so when I was at my parents house in Temperance, Michigan just north of Toledo, I installed the Pertronix kit for this bike. I never had a problem again! But my buddy Roy? He got to Jacksonville and then his bike started backfiring. We pulled into a gas station just south of town and the owner was there and had files in his pickup. We filed the points down and that allowed him to make it to his parents place in Daytona, where we spent the night.
That wasn't my first experience with Pertronix. My dad helped my buy a '77 Volkswagen Rabbit in 1984 when I was getting ready for college at the age of 18. About two months after we bought it in 1984, it gave us fits and it was the points causing trouble. The shop manager recommended Pertronix, and it solved the problem permanently.
[The '77 Rabbit? At the time my dad drove an '80 Chevette, which was a complete slug. The Rabbit on the other hand was a little tiger; Half the days of the two months I had left of high school, I would walk out the door and find it gone; Dad had taken it to work and I was stuck with his damn Chevette, he liked the Rabbit so much~]
I’m glad to hear a story like this. Naturally there are a lot of variables from one persons application to another’s, but so far most people are favoring the points. There are certainly going to be advantages to each. Thanks for sharing!
I put the pertronix flame thrower distributor in my 68 396 Camaro been working great for about 5 thousand miles, now I'm feeling a little nervous, keep the videos coming
I appreciate the encouragement. Check that ground and keep the points, condenser, plug wires and coil around.
I run Old Pertronix units, never a failure in 35yrs. That is with copper core wires, and German Bosch Blue coils. Original German Bosch VW SVDA distributors on Everything long before the "Trend" started. I do admit to keeping a fully built, timed and ready distributor in the Box of Tricks in the vehicles. But never needed it and it's only there from ALL the fails I have read about. Long ago bought a pile of 126 VW Industrial engines somewhere and received a box that must have 30 more Old units, NFS👍
Right, Wrong? It Works.
Yeah, I get that. The people who design this stuff know more about the science of why you’re supposed to use specific wires and lower ohm coils. However, I can’t help but wonder if those old units have different requirements.
this is a great resource! lots of stuff I didn't know. thanks for sharing, bud
I’m really glad you can find it useful!
I installed HEI using a 4 pin GM ignition module by Pertronic. I had three (!!) fail on me. Being the second and third modules were "new", i ruled the modules and pulled out all my hair trying to find the problem. Pertronix didn’t want to hear it at all, their customer service is the worst.
I’m sorry to hear that. In this case I can really only blame my poor engine ground, but plenty of people have issues.
One issue I do take is that if the low resistance engine ground is so important, not only should that information be in the installation instructions, it should be large font and bold, underlined.
3 Faulty Pertronix kits put my GTO on a rollback 4 times! Back to points. Pertronix sucks!!!
Ouch! I’m really sorry to hear that. I’d be really interested to see whether any tests exist to prove they actually improve anything. Years ago they sold a double pronged spark plug for a while. You notice they don’t now…
I make a habit of giving an opinion over telling people what to do. That being the case, I think your new set up is the way to go. With all the effort you've put into the stock dual carbs, a stock dizzy with vacuum is definitely what I would choose to run. Those VW engineers knew what they were doing! And think, if you run a stock dizzy then you really do only need to carry a spare points set and a condenser!
100% I got curious about the notion that the ignition was more efficient or whatever. But, I’m starting to doubt that. Then the big benefit is just that you don’t ever have to set or replace points. I don’t mind either. I will say that replacing points in this distributor is much more involved than in an 009..
@@vdubjunkie speaking of, I don't think those clips are supposed to be falling off when you remove them from the cap. Maybe you know this. I think the retainers of the distributor body must be worn out. Worn out clips definitely wouldn't be as much of an issue on a T1 set up.
You read my mind. On the inside of the space where the clips fit into the body, there is a small dome shape on each side. They are indeed worn out. Possibly the dome and also possibly the material on the side of the clip. It’s one of those things you get used to and I’ve got great little telescopic magnets, so..
I think I'll just stick with the old points system.
Sure enough if it happened to me it'd be just before a down pour or something.
Good job getting your's sorted though, sounds very healthy.
I have to say that I’m not in any hurry to get the Pertronix back in. When I put them in, I was feeling like things weren’t running as good as they could. How long has that ground issue been there? That will affect the original ignition system too!
Twice I've installed Pertronix ignitions on my cars, and both of them failed and left me stranded. Never again. I live in the Rocky Mountains where it's often 100 miles or more between towns. Can you imagine the cost of a 100 mile tow? What if it happens during a blizzard? How will you stay warm if you can't run your heater? How will you stay alive?
Despite their advertising, Pertronix never did anything to improve the cars' performance.
I appreciate you sharing that story. I think plenty of people just believe they are better. I’m really not sure. I do now have quite a few tanks of gas on them and I’m about to get a bunch more on points, so I’ll be able to see whether there’s any significant difference in MPG. Spoiler alert, I’m pretty sure the answer is no
@@vdubjunkie That was my conclusion as well. I felt little difference in the way the car drove or performed. Points need adjusting, of course, but they feel great if you do the maintenance, and they last a long time.
I suspect that a lot of the market for Pertronix is from drivers whose brains just don't jive with the concepts of clearances and finicky adjustment procedures. The suffering is real! I'm glad I finally figured them out, because points will get you home, most times.
My first Pertronix swap was a Fiat 124 Spider. I did a bunch of other tune up and upgrade work at the same time as the Pertronix, so the whole package of improvements felt great on the road! But I couldn't have told you which elements of the tune-up made the biggest difference. I was pleased with all the manufacturers involved, including Pertronix.
So I bought a second one for an Austin America. Given that the old coil had been failing slowly, the addition of the Pertronix and a new coil felt like a power boost.
But in both cars, the Pertronix unit failed, and left me dead on the side of the road. In both cases, I returned to points ignition without regret. Well adjusted points aren't noticeably different in performance.
I learned my lesson the second time. 😏
Thanks for reading! I've needed to get that off my chest for a decade! I never expected to find anybody who might care!
Thanks for bringing back memories of two fun restoration projects! I still have the America, and I miss the Fiat!
@@tedpreston4155 absolutely, and let’s face it, running an air-cooled VW isn’t something you do because you need to have a no muss, no fuss car!
@@tedpreston4155 I’m so glad. The other day I drove by a shop that had a 1986 Toyota Supra. Boy, did that bring back some memories!
Great video, thanks for sharing. Im still running with points in my 66 bus, and so far not had issues. I considered the Petronics system but was scared off by having to buy everything (coil, leads, etc) (I'm cheap btw) but mainly by what you've displayed here. I recently had someone try and persuade me with the 123 Ignition distributor. Becoming popular here in UK. Have you looked at this?
I’m definitely not convinced the Pertronix is such a significant upgrade. That 123 does look interesting. Whenever I see there’s an app associated, I put on my scrutiny glasses. But, I’m sure that’s just to select the programs and it doesn’t rely on that connection to continue functioning. I just hope they didn’t try to get too fancy. Programming is a two-sided coin. Once you start getting into software upgrades.. 🤨
There are several steps I would take;
1. Tow smucky VW to junk
yard and purchase a
dignified ride. Like a 70
charger or maybe an
Avanti. What kind of
ladies are going to jump
into what your now
driving?
2. If you Insist on retaining
your ugh ride, you need
the petronix problem by...
deinstalling the present
engine and doing the
right thing and dropping
in a SBC tricked to like
450 or so with a basic
blower set up
3. Do the really right thing
by putting in a Sonny's
1000 or a good SME
4. spraying that thing some
wild Metalflake!!!!!
Petronox problem (and your
life situation) Solved.....😊
Congrats. You are officially my first hateful comment. I dig all kinds of cars and I’m pretty darned pleased with the lady I’ve got too, so I’ll keep doing what I’m doing! 😂
Twitter Fingers havin’ @$$. Cindy over here living under a rock not realizing there’s more people around the world besides they/them. (Probably thinks the world is flat too lulz)
Twitter fingers. Thats funny!
Just because u have 12 volts when the car is off does not mean u have 12 volts when is on. Lol resistor wire. Cmon dude
Absolutely correct. However, this car doesn’t have a resistor wire.