PerTronix Ignitor

[Heep-J4000]

Hello all ,

Im still running point on my daily drive 73' J4000 with 360 engine on lpg
But just having this question!
Does anyone have and use a pertronix ignitor on his amc 304/360/401 engine?
And if you do ,how happy are you with it ,or what are your toughts about it?

i'm still okay with having ignition point and also like the old school idea
but just tinking about this because the wear and tear of the meganical ignition.

Thanks and like to know your thoughts and other ideas.
Cheers

[joe]

Haven't swapped out the ultra reliable Delco points system on an AMC with a Pertronix electronic conversion but have done it on other brands even a 60's era Mercedes Benz for a friend. NOT saying it's the best option for electronic ignition but it's prolly the cheapest and in my experience have been very reliable. If you're on a tight budget IMHO it's a viable option if you just don't want to deal with points.

[Heep-J4000]

Well i like the ignition points and they did work okay.
But last week replaced the points with a new set ,but the spring was really stiff and kind of twisting the ignition plate causing all sorts of missfires.

Did adjust the spring with a pliers and everything is working good again.
But like to know other peoples ideas about it.

[joe]

Sorry to hear that but not overly surprised either. Here in the US pretty much most especially elec parts are outsourced junk and it's a crap shoot for win/lose for quality
I think now even AC Delco outsources parts from China/Taiwan? With that said I have no idea who builds Pertronix stuff today...may just come from the same Shanghai basement shop Delco parts come from???

As a side note disclaimer: I am NOT anti-Chinese. Their engineers/factory workers are every bit as smart/capable as ours...BUT... I blame USA Corp greed(board of directors) building to a price point rather than quality. ! Times are a changing and eventually "all" our parts will come from China/Bangladesh and we'll spend a decade deciding/sorting out if Wong Loo's or Twoface Lee's or Himalaya Henry's are the best quality parts.
We demanded cheap parts and now we got'em.

Glad I'm old and not just starting out with the car/bike hobby thing. Is not gonna get better anytime soon.

[FSJunkie]

NAPA Echlin brand points are all I use. They offer several lines of points for this distributor:

-Standard points: Small contacts, OE spring tension of around 17 ounces, and a plastic rubbing block. They work fine for RPM under 5000 but I'd check or replace them every 6000 miles.

-Vented points: Same small contacts but one contact has a hole drilled in the middle to keep the contact surfaces cooler and prevent point burning. I've had a few and didn't like them. The vent costs contact area and makes them wear faster.

-Vented Uniset points: Vented points with an attached condenser. I've had a few and didn't like them.

-Heavy duty points: Larger contacts and a higher spring tension of around 21 ounces and a tougher fiber phenolic rubbing block. The large contacts give them long wear and ability to handle higher current. The higher spring tension allows them to resist float to higher RPM and the tougher rubbing block helps to reduce wear due to the increased spring tension. They may cause higher breaker cam wear, though in practice it is likely negligable. I like these a lot. I clean and reset mine every 6000 miles but otherwise I get more than 12,000 miles per set. I've never worn one out.

-High performance and racing points: These have very high spring tension to resist float at high RPM and likely cause more wear to the distributor. I've never used them and I would switch to an electronic ignition before I did.

No points no matter the quality will run well in a worn-out or damaged distributor. A worn out distributor shaft, shaft bushings, or breaker plate bushing will cause slack and movement that changes both the dwell (point gap) and the ignition timing. One cylinder may be firing at 5* BTDC, another at 0*, another at 10* BTDC, and yet another at 2* ATDC.... No points no matter the quality will last long or perform well with the wrong reisistance ignition coil or ballast. Good points in a good distributor can be set and forgotten about for 6000 miles or longer.

I have used both the Pertronix Ignitor I and Ignitor II in these distributors. The Ignitor II demands the use of no ballast and a higher current Pertronix coil, which putsmore electrical load through the ignition switch wiring for the vehicle. Neither Pertronix Ignitor run any better than a good set of points in a good distributor in an engine that never exceeds 5500 RPM. The Pertronix Ignitors will work better in a worn or damaged distributor than points will and can help compensate for a bad distributor, but that is just about the only time they beat points. I found myself always carrying a spare set of points in the glove box in case my Pertronix module failed. Electronic modules like that tend to fail without warning at fail 100% dead. I knew the points would run and get me home. I knew I could rely on them, and that if smething wrong with them on the road, that I could clean and reset them and keep driving. I cannot repair a failed Pertronix module on the road. So...I got rid of my Pertronix and went back to points. They are what I know and what I trust.

[Mr Carts]

Use them years ago on VW's, that said I always kept a spare Dist. in the trunk because I had them fail.

Just pop out the bad Dist. and put the spare in.

A lot easier to do in a Bug than a FSJ.

[letank]

I used the pertronix on the 74 for over 10 years, it quieted the engine so well, that my kids thought I had swapped the engine when I picked them up at school...
The system fadded slowly on the way home from Moab... loss of power... probably age or the installation of a more powerful coil...


Otherwise I have been very happy with it, really troublefree and better start up.

[Rod2]

I don't remember when I put in Pertronix; it's been a while and it's been trouble free and reliable. I also have a module in my '66 VW bug's 009.
I just looked up where made and found Igniter II made in USA.

[tgreese]

Pertronix simply replaces the points with a transistorized trigger. It makes no changes to the timing or condition of the spark. It relieves you of periodic maintenance of the ignition points, which includes periodic replacement and adjstment of the dwell angle.

A serious upgrade would be the MSD module, which can be trggered by the existing points distributor. Since it takes over the switching of the coil, the points will last until the fiber block (riding on the distributor cam) wears out. You still need to set the dwell occasionally as the fiber block wears.

[Heep-J4000]

Thanks for all the replies,

Got a used distributor with a pertronix sensor allready installed
So going to try that.

Just a small question ,do the two wires only go to the plus and min side on the coil?

Thanks