I should be getting my my Pertronix Ignitor II set and flamethrower coil tomorrow. Is it really as easy as * Remove old points and condenser * Install pertronix in distributor and replace old coil with new one. * Connect wires to coil * Start and adjust idle to suit This is on a 72 grabber with a 302 I've been reading and read some things about a resistance wire and bypassing it. How will I know if that is something I need to do?
No, it is not that easy. It comes with a plastic feeler gauge, and you need to adjust the gap to match it one time, and tighten it down. Then it is that easy. I think the need for the resistance wire (I think it is called "ballast resistor") will depend on your coil.
The resistance wire is part of the main wiring harness in your car. The easiest way I found to by-pass was to get a 12V relay that pulls in the coil at 6V (readily available at Radio Shack), take the wire that currently supplies power to your coil and put it into the signal source on the relay. Then run 12V+ from your battery to the relay across the relay to the distributor coil. Then you can run the car without having to modify your harness.
Ahhh ok... This is the coil I ordered [ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00199DPWQ/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00"]Amazon.com: PerTronix 45011 Flame-Thrower II 45,000 Volt 0.6 ohm Coil: Automotive[/ame] I can probably do what I need to for bypassing the resistance wire, but not sure I would know if I needed to or not. Thanks for the quick reply by the way
I put the Pertronix in mine years ago. I'm trying to think back now and I"m wondering if I by-passed the stock wire. I think maybe I should look into that.
I was advised to do this same thing for Duraspark, but isn't it actually going to get more than 12v since it's coming off the battery?
Well it will be more than 12v, but everything in your car is designed to run between 11.5V and 13.5V without burning out due to variance in the regulator on your alternator. Electron flow is a lot like water flow. If I pour water into a bucket it will overflow and spill everywhere; but if I regulate the flow it will never exceed my regulation in the system. The battery is constantly being drained at the same rate it is being filled thanks to the regulator, so this isn't something you have to worry about. Unless your regulator is putting out a high voltage, which is a worry for your entire electrical system. TL;DR - It's not a concern. I noticed before by-passing the wire that my car would get to a rev limit, struggle to surpass it, then catch up. It was like I was bumping a rev limiter. After by-passing I just had smooth acceleration. And it depends on the coil you put in with it. The Petronix coils want 12V, stock coils are ok between 7V and 9V which is what the resistance wire outputs.
I was wondering about this because I've not finalized my Duraspark wiring yet and have been debating wheather to do the relay thing or just run 12v off of the ign. switch like most do. I like the idea of keeping the power supply under the hood rather than the ignition switch better and just wanted to be sure it wouldn't be a problem since so many say you can cook things with too much voltage. I've been running the Duraspark off of the resistance wire with no noticable issues but it was just to get the car going.
BTW Craig. This is the same Maverick I bought from you back in 2004 I think it was. And back to the main subject. Yes it is really that easy.
I've read a lot on this issue now, and talked to a number of people. It's been a crap shoot on whether or not they had noticeable issues. What I got out of it was try it out, if you have an issue put in the by-pass and see if that fixes it. One of the things that can make you not notice is if you aren't trying to increase your spark gap from stock, it will allow the coil to fire a slightly lower voltage with no issues. I mean really the only thing you are doing is not allowing the coil to reach peak output before it fires, really not a big deal if you aren't pushing boundaries. You have to remember that the output rated on the coil is not really what it does. What it really does is proportionally increase the voltage from the source based on the characteristics of the coil. So since the resistance wire puts out a reasonable voltage (average around 9.5V when I was testing mine) the voltage difference on the output of the coil is probably lower, but not lower enough to cause issue. Now try and increase you spark plug gap (I went from stock .035 to .045) and you will run into issues because the voltage required to jump the gap increases exponentially to the distance of the gap. I don't have the numbers memorized and someone else can google them. If you are not by-passing the resistance wire, and not increasing gap or moving much from Stock ignition other than to put in petronix, you won't notice as readily.
I running E7TE heads with a better plug (with a .05 gap) way more than my 73 engine came with. My car hauls ass, and runs awesome.
