Points ignition? Any advantages?

[jake197000]

you can change the point tension buy sliding the spring in a little farther or extend the slot in the spring but you trade point tension for rubbing block wear and dist cam wear.electronic is by far better but in a vintage car they are just fine.you just have to maintain it.but for a lot of people that is half the fun.i cant count the number of points and condensers ive changed back in the 1970 's.every dist i do gets run on sun dist tester,and gets put on an analog scope.i know every one doesnt have that option but i collect sun equipment and there motto was test dont guess.i remember the sun rep coming around in the early 70's

[jake197000]

point alignment is also very important to get full contact.they made special tools for bending the stationary contact.most points they make now require checking that.you should alwasys check it even back in the day.

[jake197000]

i think it was 73.chrysler was the first to put electronic ignition in all there cars.at least for domestics.they also were the first to offer alternators in 1960

[JodyB]

In terms of of maximum power output, if the points distributor is capable of supporting the rpm and cylinder pressure without a misfire, and no mechanically induced timing changes, little will be gained from anything different.

[ClassAct]

i think it was 73.chrysler was the first to put electronic ignition in all there cars.at least for domestics.they also were the first to offer alternators in 1960

1971 for chrysler

[enigma57]

Measure the primary and secondary resistances to give you some feel for what the internal differences might be.

Will do! The Mallory Magspark transformer may be an odd animal and a challenge for me to understand. Seems to have 2 primary windings and a single secondary winding. Each set of points in a dual point Magspark distributor uses a separate primary winding and they are independent...... Not connected one to the other with a jumper wire as are most other dual point setups I have seen.

My youngest son has an ohmmeter and should be driving down in a couple of weeks to put the heads on his engine. I'll see if he can bring it and any other testing equipment he may have and time permitting, perhaps we can test a few of these different type Mallory coils whilst he is here.

He was an Aviation Electronics Tech in the Navy. Knows a lot more about this sort of thing than do I. Fitting pipe, welding, brazing and tinkering with carburettors are my thing. Electrical and electronics, not so much.

Best regards,

Harry

[emsvitil]

Would that make it a dual spark capable?

[oscaracme]

i think it was 73.chrysler was the first to put electronic ignition in all there cars.at least for domestics.they also were the first to offer alternators in 1960

1971 for chrysler

no, it was 1973

[jake197000]

we are both wrong. it was 1972.but im not sure if it was across there whole line.i do know they used it on every thing in 1973.

[David Redszus]

The coils had their limits as well. For four and si cylinder engines the coils could deliver sufficient voltage at higher rpm; but not for eight cylinder engines. Alternatives to coils included capacitive discharge systems that used capacitors instead of a coil. They produced very high firing voltages but had limited spark duration.

CD ignitions I have seen, mostly on bikes, have a coil..I believe it does not function exactly as the coil used in a Kettering ignition but it's still a coil..

Yes, they seem to have something that looks like a coil. Except when used with a CD they are called transformers. The difference is in the step up voltage.

by gruntguru » Mon Aug 05, 2019 9:49 pm
Measure the primary and secondary resistances to give you some feel for what the internal differences might be.

[Truckedup]

Yes, they seem to have something that looks like a coil. Except when used with a CD they are called transformers. The difference is in the step up voltage.

I believe on bikes the CD systems are AC if fed from a flywheel magneto..I was a construction electrician not an engineer and theory we were taught is DC can not be boosted by transformers, only AC can be. So there's some trickery inside auto CD systems?

[ClassAct]

i think it was 73.chrysler was the first to put electronic ignition in all there cars.at least for domestics.they also were the first to offer alternators in 1960

1971 for chrysler

no, it was 1973

Sorry, but 1973 is WRONG. Just like 1972 is wrong. It was 1971 on the high end models and in 1972 most everything that was performance oriented was electronic.

I was the 2nd owner of a 1972 Demon and it had electronic ignition.

The correct answer is 1971.

[RCJ]

Yes, they seem to have something that looks like a coil. Except when used with a CD they are called transformers. The difference is in the step up voltage.

I believe on bikes the CD systems are AC if fed from a flywheel magneto..I was a construction electrician not an engineer and theory we were taught is DC can not be boosted by transformers, only AC can be. So there's some trickery inside auto CD systems?

Will a normal timing light work on a flywheel magneto?

[Geoff2]

I remember Triumphs of the 1960s had an alternator & a rectifier to rectify the AC output of the alt to DC. The rectifier was mounted under the headlight on a heat sink to keep them cool. They were notorious for failing....

As for points advantage. Cannot think of any. Electronic ign such as HEI maintains the correct & reliable ign timing for 000s of miles. It produces at least 50% more spark energy than points, allowing for a hotter spark. Very important, since it is the heat in the spark that ignites the mixture. Larger plug gaps can also be used, the benefit is a no-brainer. The hotter spark can also blast away deposits & produce a spark, where a weaker points ign spark will be absorbed by the deposits & misfire because no spark is produced.

[cjperformance]

For remote area ease of a "bush fix" point are far beyond any electronic ignition. Points can be easily and roughly made to work to keep a vehicle on the go.
Other than that, electronic wins in every other way.