See my Points – Pertronix Install Guide
Customer service pays off. Or should I say, bad customer service doesn’t pay.
If you haven’t seen my 1927 Ford Roadster called “Bonnie” then this may be your first time to MyRideisMe.com. In that case, WELCOME! Please stay a while and if you dig it… JOIN here.
My roadster kinda odd because I run a 2.3L Ford Motor. That’s right! It’s a Pinto motor and I’m proud to be part of the 4 banger world. The 2.3’s are easy to find, cheap to get and can be made to run hard, but that can get expensive. I wrote a bunch about modifying the 2.3L Ford Motor in my garage blog. Check it out.
So trying to save a few bucks, I bought a Mallory dual point distributer. Why a dual point with all the electronic points systems out there? And why not just run a factory Ford electronic distributor? Good questions. For both cases, you often have to deal with a vacuum advance system. My motor makes poopoo vacuum. (does that rhyme?) and those vacuum modulators don’t look good. Also, most of the electronic setups are big bucks. Dual point was good for a long time and I was coming from a single points setup, so I went for p/n 2362101 from Mallory.
After almost no trouble for a year, I was stranded on the side of the road. On the way to the Goodguys show. It sucked. To make things worse, as my pops and I were pushing the car up onto the trailer, I punched a hole in the oil pan. 5 quarts of “changed last night” fresh oil spilled onto the highway and the trailer.
Know what the original problem was? A bad capacitor! (called condensers to some). Ever heard of that? Pops was a Ford mechanic for 25 years starting in 1964 and had seen that 2 times. I was the one that fixed it cause he said, that’s never it! The spark would show in the points at first then progressively get weaker until it was gone. For some reason, i had a new capacitor. I put it on and the car fired right up. I patched the hole in the pan and made it to the show by 1 PM. Not bad!
Anther year went by and the same farting and sputtering problem started up again. Another new capacitor, this time a big momma from and old distributor and I’m down the road again. Enough’s enough.
I sent a message to Mallory on their website and got a response that only said: “Clean of the contacts and skuff the condenser case.” What the heck for? and… DUH! That’s not customer service after blowing 2 parts that shouldn’t fail. That’s when I started searching for another solution and found a Pertronix kit that, get this, fit into my Mallory dizzy! Very cool! I got the Pertronix 9ML-141from Car Shop Inc. I’d never purchased from Car Shop Inc, but they had a great price! I contacted Tim, told him what was up, then he told me his experience with Pertronix, all good, and had the parts to me in a couple days. Sweet deal. Great service. That’s what I’m looking for.
The rest of the story’s pretty easy. The Pertronix instructions were short and easy to follow. No wonder, it was an easy swap and has been running perfectly. I did have to make a timing adjustment, but not much.
So check out the rest of these pictures. They’ll show you how I did it. Anyone could, it’s that easy. (Click on any picture to make it bigger)
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- Here’s where I started, remove the cap.
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- Disconnect the leads from both sets of points, then remove this plastic thing
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- See that “C” shapped slot? There are 2 flat head screws that hold this plate in. Loosen them to remove the plate
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- Here’s what’s left. You can clearly see the flat head screws. Note the position of the advance setting screws.
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- Next, secure the Pertronix Plate with those same 2 flathead screws
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- Then slip the rubber grommet into the hole where the plastic thing was. Be careful.
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- Finally, slip the magnetic pickup onto the distributor shaft. It only goes 1 way.
Hooking up the wires was easy. Red to + on the coil, black to the -. You don’t need a ballast resistor either. That’s nice cause it cleans things up a bit. Any questions, leave a comment! And don’t forget to join MyRideisMe.com.
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Hey Pike
I’ve been runnin’ the Pertronix on my truck,
& now on the Pink Ford. They work like a champ,
and very dependable……so far.
=]
I recommend them, too, for anyone dealing with
the old points systems.
I have one on the econoline. Like it…but it took me two to find one that worked. The pertronix boys sent me another one. I have noticed the motor running better with the pertronix unit.
Pike thats the cleansest part on your car!
Hey Craig, if you’re done with the condensor can I have it back. :)
Hey ELpolacko, yea, you can have it back! I’m holding it in an environmentally controlled chamber to protect it’s distinct patina… You’ll be at Goodguy’s, right?
nice install guide you have here I have a 64 falcon with a 289 that has a dual point and bought one of these electronic set ups yesterday and my car has 2 of those white resistor on.so your saying I can get rid of them,what were they for did they half to be used with the dual points or what?
Hi my mallory is currently fitted with the e-spark electronic ignition, but its failed, im considering replacing with a pertronic unit. When the e spark was fitted the points cam was removed, does the pertronic trigger need the old points cam refitting to locate on. If so how do i get its position right relative to the rotor arm so that it triggers when the rotor arm is lined up with a plug lead terminal on the cap.
What coil resistance is required by the pertronic ignition system. Cheers George