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)

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.

Pinto Power at it again! Hydroplane Racing

It’s no wonder there are a ton of 2.3 engines out there making power. They’re one of the top engines for Ministock racing, we knew that, and there’s a few companies making go-fast parts for them like Esslinger (http://esslingerengineering.com/) and Racer Walsh (http://racerwalsh.zoovy.com/). We’ve even got a near fanatical following for the turbo 2.3’s over at turboford.org. But, I had no idea folks like Dennis Wright were racing these Pinto ‘bangers in hydroplanes! I met Dennis over on the HAMB board. He was responding to my post about this finned aluminum valve cover I designed. I think the market for it would be big enough to manufacture it for profit, but I’m busy working on other things, like MyRideisMe.com!

Dennis wrote the info below in an email and said I could post it with a few pics. This isn’t a car or a bike, but you’ll see by reading, this story fits: My Ride is Me.

The 2.5L stock class boats have the letter “S” designation with the boat number. Most “S” boats these days use the Ford 2300. The motors are basically the pure stock version of the OMC marine motor. We are allowed to run a Holley 350 or 500 as a replacement for the Rochester. We don’t run a water pump or alt. to free up power and we can run an aftermarket distributor. The cam profile is based on the stock marine version, which has been duplicated by several custom cam grinders. The heads are limited to any Ford 2.3 head with 4 spark plugs and a combustion chamber volume of at least 61cc. Stock followers only, no roller rockers allowed. Pistons must be the Federal Mogul H435P. This keeps the compression down to about 8.5:1.

The boats are typically about 16 feet long and a little over 8′ wide. The minimum weight is 975 pounds including the driver and top speed is right around 100 mph on a good day. My boat is 10 years old and is on the heavy side. I do good to hit about 90 mph and finish in the middle of the pack. Most are built from composite materials (fiberglass and carbon fiber), but there are still a few wood boats being built. Mine is a hybrid. The center section is made from wood and the out appendages, called sponsons, are made from carbon fiber.

Our sanctioning body is the American Power Boat Association. I attend races in Ohio and Michigan. But there are races along the east and west coasts as well. This class is one of the most popular classes due to the manageable size of the boats and reasonable cost to operate.

Thanks Dennis! I’ve never been a big fan of speed on the water (for some reason, that scares the crap outta me!) but that looks like fun. Going fast on a budget is the foundation of hot rodding. I’ll have to watch for one of these races and check it out.

For more info about the S class of racing, check out this website: http://www.marinepropriders.com/tech/index.html

Then, check out the American Power Boat Assoication’s website. (http://www.apba-racing.com/index.html)While you’re there, take a look at the Superlight Tunnel Boats. (http://www.apba-racing.com/Categories/pi/index.html) Who thought that up?

Finally, credit for the photos goes to Phil Kunz. Click HERE for his website. While you’re there, make sure to check out the Phil Kunz Scrapbook. It’s filled with vintage pics of powerboat racing. Most of the black and white pics show flathead powered boats of all shapes and sizes trying to grab the racer’s edge back then. Too cool!

Please take a look at our sponsors:

MyRideisMe.com teamed with Dub Wheels Pimpstar

In addition to the sleek new set of 26×10″ wheels and tires from Dubs, I’ll also be installing a new LT1 fuel injected crate motor to replace the pinto power!

Check out these new rims! (They make spinners look like 13″Centerlines!) Gonna be ROLLIN baby!!

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Oh, and APRIL FOOLS! (did I get’cha? Please leave a comment)
(MyRideisMe.com is not receiving advertising money from Dubs, I just thought this was outrageous and a good prank for April 1…)

Finally Assembled! Pinto baby!

I’m not sure when I started working on this project, but it was at least 4 years ago. I wanted to build a trick intake setup for my Pinto Powered Roadster called Bonnie. Bonnie’s always turned heads, even parked next to MUCH higher dollar rods. I have to admit that I like that. The intake design is from a tech article I read from the Inglese website. It explains why individual runner intakes and weber carbs are the hot setup.

Now, with the new intake finally on, I’m gonna get more people asking, “What engine is that?”

So here’s where I left off… the last thing to do was weld the flange that would hold the throttle cable:

My Friend Aaron welded everything up for me. It came out nice, then I took it to the sand blast cabinet. After, it looked like cast aluminum, but it weighs less than 3 lbs. These are the before and after blasting shots.

Then finally, here’s what it looks like all mounted up. I can’t wait to spend hours trying to tune this thing!

But, I’m gonna wait to fire it up cause I’m also putting a new header on! This thing is gonna be nasty!

If you have a build you want to show on the front page, get in touch with us! Pikesan or Napalm. We’d be happy to feature your ride! Get building!

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Gearing up for Scottsdale Goodguys Show

Some how while trying to make this website and taking care of my family, I’m also working on my Pinto Powered 27 Ford Roadster, “Bonnie”. I thought I’d update everyone on the progress. I’m doing this so that all of the 230 users of My Ride is Me will do the same! We’re talking to our web designer about how to show EVERYONE’s blogs all in one place. That way, we can all keep up with what’s new.

First off, here’s the car… if you haven’t seen it yet, I haven’t done enough self promotion! (hardly possible) This is what it looked like before the 2006 Goodguy’s show.

That red paint you see on the header is GONE (as soon as it got hot!) and the car hasn’t been that clean since! Plus, the paint (primer really) had faded here and there unevenly, so here’s what I’m trying to finish before the show:

1) Custom dual Weber 44 IDF carbs. Here’s a few pics:

The idea here is best said by the guys at Inglese: Weber-carbureted engine to idle smoother, have a slicker “feel” to it a low speeds (particularly if a hot camshaft prevented that feeling before), and generally feel much more powerful throughout the entire rpm range. This is largely because they use an independent-runner manifold, which does not incorporate a plenum. In a typical four two-barrel Weber layout, there is one barrel directly feeding each cylinder without any intercommunication between barrels or cylinders. This totally “isolated runner” design ensures that each cylinder is fed exactly the same as the next, without any chance of charge-robbing or over-feeding. I’m trying to grab some low-rpm torque, so the runners I’m using are longer. We’ll see how that works out!

2) Fix the floor (in prep for an interior that probably won’t make the show) This is pretty straight forward. I’m cutting out the 1/4″ thick ‘freakin’ PIPE that the previous owner put in for a driveshaft hump. I don’t need that much room for the driveshaft, so I’m taking it down and prettying it up some.

3) Redo the header (so that it doesn’t hit the body!) to get a little more performance from the engine. In addition to the intake and cam, I’m trying to squeeze some more Torque from this motor. The header tubes should be small enough diameter to keep good exhaust gas velocity at lower rpm, and have a longer primary runner. The header that’s on there now looks cool, but it does nothing for performance. I’ll have to take some more pictures to show my plan for that one.

I’ll post more pictures when I make some progress… that’ll have to be soon or it’ll look exactly the same as last year! *not gonna happen!*

See you at the show. Here’s some info, in case you need it, from the Goodguys web page. MyRideisMe.com will be there and we’ll be taking a TON of pictures!

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Model T Hot Rods and Typewriters

It was my pleasure to meet Kirk Wright of Scottsdale, AZ at the Scottsdale Pavilion’s show. We started talking about my car, a 27 Ford Roadster and the the 2.3L Pinto motor I run. Then Kirk started telling me about some of his cars. After hearing about the Model T ‘banger motors he was building, I set up a meeting at his house to see what he’s up to. His card says AAA Typewriter Service on it, so I didn’t know what I was getting into. I got into this:

If you’re into nostalgia racing or old-OLD time hot rodding, or just really into Model T’s, then you just spilled your beer. You’re looking at a one of kind Hemi headed model T engine. The valve cover is also a unique piece.

It’s a modified original Ardun valve cover. Kirk added extra room to clear the custom made aluminum roller rockers. Displacing 190 cu. in, Kirk expects this engine to put out about 320Hp. Don’t believe it? Kirk’s basing that number on another T engine he’s built and dyno’d. That’s in another T pickup that Kirk’s owned since 1951 when he was 11, bought with $50 saved from 3 years of picking cotton. The whole story’s told in a book Kirk wrote himself called “Me and the T”. It’s on old trapper’s truck used in Young, AZ.

At first glance, you might see this truck as an unusual, but not extraordinary rat rod. You’d be mistaken. Looking past another 4 cylinder bad-ass, you’ll find 4 wheel, power assisted disc brakes, rack and pinion steering and a cleverly hidden alternator mounted on the rear axle near the wheel. Too cool.

This ‘banger makes 278Hp. I asked if that’s dyno proven and Kirk honestly told me that this engine’s an exact copy of one that did dyno at 278. How can an engine designed almost 100 years ago take that much power? Even Kirk thinks Henry would, “Shit his pants” if he saw what’s being done to his engine. I thought for sure it’d run hot, but thanks to an external oil pump from a Subaru and an entirely new oiling system and cooler, it hold 12 quarts of oil. It never gets hot and never stops turning heads. What could be better? Kirk drives the truck all the time and runs it hard! He just got a speeding ticket on the highway a few days before we met. GO KIRK!

I couldn’t be happier with what I’d seen so far, then I saw this vintage Hill Climb racer and record holder from 1976:

Then, walking past the Dodge SRT-10 Ram (naturally, it’s way beyond stock) I saw this speedster in progress:

And then this 1911 Ford Model Torpedo that belongs in a museum but is plugged into a battery tender, just in case Kirk want to go for a spin:

I plan to write more about another T motor in Kirk’s garage, the T parts he’s got, the custom race T parts he designed and made, his plans for the hill climb racer and even the vintage racing pictures he’s got on the wall. I’d do it now but I can’t remember everything Kirk said! I left amazed and anxious to write this story but had to wait almost a week until Sunday’s paper came out. Seems the local paper found Kirk pretty amazing, too. Look for more info and details about everything soon. It’ll be a good excuse to go back and see the soft spoken gentleman who repairs typewriters.

If you like this story, please join! It’s free and a great way to share pictures with friends.

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