Sbc piont dist.

[RCJ]

Wanting to keep the small pionts dist. because of period correctness. With all the talk of slew rate and timing curves. What is the best system to eliminate the pionts. I would like to keep it inside the dist. With no external spark box but I'm not ruling that out. 400hp sbc

[Tuner]

Pertronix

[Walter R. Malik]

Wanting to keep the small pionts dist. because of period correctness. With all the talk of slew rate and timing curves. What is the best system to eliminate the pionts. I would like to keep it inside the dist. With no external spark box but I'm not ruling that out. 400hp sbc

The "Perteonix II" works very well ... I have had issues with their "Pertronix III" units not working well after a few heat cycles.

[BillK]

The Pertronix units work good but they are a royal pain to install and setup properly in my opinion and I am usually very patient with small parts. The piece that bolts on under the rotor is just plain annoying. I put one in an Oldsmobile distributor for a customer last year.

Dave Ray does small body hei conversions but he mounts an hei module right on the distributor. I wonder if you could do the same idea but mount the hei module remotely where you cant see it ?

https://www.davessmallbodyheis.com/

[Tuner]

The Pertronix units work good but they are a royal pain to install and setup properly in my opinion and I am usually very patient with small parts. The piece that bolts on under the rotor is just plain annoying. I put one in an Oldsmobile distributor for a customer last year.

Dave Ray does small body hei conversions but he mounts an hei module right on the distributor. I wonder if you could do the same idea but mount the hei module remotely where you cant see it ?

https://www.davessmallbodyheis.com/

If you work on the distributor out of the engine on the bench it is easy, no problem at all.

Pertronix makes a lobe sensing Ignitor 1 that installs without the magnet ring and is convenient but it has less dwell than the unit with the ring of magnets used with the original Ignitor 1 and Ignitor 2.

Ignitor 2 eliminates the ballast resistor so eliminates the hassle of making sure the system resistance is correct. Using either #1 or #2 with the coils recommended for each is a good plan. Using the Ignitor 2 and the Flame Thrower 2 coil together provides hotter spark energy.

[Tom68]

Wanting to keep the small pionts dist. because of period correctness. With all the talk of slew rate and timing curves. What is the best system to eliminate the pionts. I would like to keep it inside the dist. With no external spark box but I'm not ruling that out. 400hp sbc

Keep the points, 400HP V8 that isn't getting revved to the moon won't mind (just forget that you read about slew rates and you won't have a problem) they also supply a bloody good spark.

You could always add a hidden point triggered control box.

[Tuner]

Wanting to keep the small pionts dist. because of period correctness. With all the talk of slew rate and timing curves. What is the best system to eliminate the pionts. I would like to keep it inside the dist. With no external spark box but I'm not ruling that out. 400hp sbc

Keep the points, 400HP V8 that isn't getting revved to the moon won't mind (just forget that you read about slew rates and you won't have a problem) they also supply a bloody good spark.

You could always add a hidden point triggered control box.

I setup an original Ford points distributor for a '70 GT350 clonelast week and my personal vehicle has points. Week before a 51 Packard Delco distributor and a '65 Mustang 200 six cyl. with points, a couple months ago it was a 31 Model A and a 40 Ford Flathead, all points.

The headache with points nowadays is what is available is not the quality of 50 years ago, sometimes they will go to high speed and sometimes no joy. A big problem is the shaft bushings must be tight or tighter than new to get the high RPM that was easy with the high quality point sets in the way back dayze.

In the '60s and early '70s, Ford, GM and Mopar all sold high speed points for their distributors that worked better than the Mallory so-called high speed units ... and you don't want to know about the Accel high pressure spring junk that was intended to ruin your distributor in hopes you would buy a new Accel dual pont.

You just never know what will happen next with points. Recently a guy shows up with a brand new chinese clone Ford point distributor for a 351W. It had the advance curve from hell that would have been a detonation pig engine killer and a nearly inoperative vacuum advance, but after some blacksmithing and spring making it came around and was actually good, for as long as it lasts with the poor quality material is is made of.

The points that came with it floated at about 5000 as delivered, but after polishing the breaker cam and "adjusting" the breaker arm spring and aligning the contacts the unit would hold 30 degrees dwell to 8000 RPM with only 22 oz. breaker arm spring tension, with a functional vacuum advance. ??? go figure

[Tom68]

I setup an original Ford points distributor for a '70 GT350 clonelast week and my personal vehicle has points. Week before a 51 Packard Delco distributor and a '65 Mustang 200 six cyl. with points, a couple months ago it was a 31 Model A and a 40 Ford Flathead, all points.

The headache with points nowadays is what is available is not the quality of 50 years ago, sometimes they will go to high speed and sometimes no joy. A big problem is the shaft bushings must be tight or tighter than new to get the high RPM that was easy with the high quality point sets in the way back dayze.

In the '60s and early '70s, Ford, GM and Mopar all sold high speed points for their distributors that worked better than the Mallory so-called high speed units ... and you don't want to know about the Accel high pressure spring junk that was intended to ruin your distributor in hopes you would buy a new Accel dual pont.

You just never know what will happen next with points. Recently a guy shows up with a brand new chinese clone Ford point distributor for a 351W. It had the advance curve from hell that would have been a detonation pig engine killer and a nearly inoperative vacuum advance, but after some blacksmithing and spring making it came around and was actually good, for as long as it lasts with the poor quality material is is made of.

The points that came with it floated at about 5000 as delivered, but after polishing the breaker cam and "adjusting" the breaker arm spring and aligning the contacts the unit would hold 30 degrees dwell to 8000 RPM with only 22 oz. breaker arm spring tension, with a functional vacuum advance. ??? go figure

We could always get low quality points for Delcos here in Oz at least as far back as the 70s, Repco supplied them, a bit of split sheetmetal acted as a thread for the adjuster screw, Echlin seemed pretty good in the 80s. Yer I doubt there's much good stuff around now. Last set I ran were triggering a 6AL with surface discharge Spark plugs. Something went wrong with the 6AL, converted it back to Kettering, went every bit as good.

Hydraulic lifters and points were engine saving rev limiters.

I put a points dizzy in a boat a few years back, (mechanic owner) he had a Mallory twin point with no vac advance provision, so put a Delco in.

[bobmc]

you need to use packard 440 plug wires with rajah terminals to be period correct

[PNEguy]

I've sucessfully used Pertronix Ignitors since the 1980's when they were PerLux Ignition. I had tried the Mallory optical breakerless conversions and the Hays reluctor type conversions with mixed results. I've only had issues with Pertronix when the grounding wire from the points plate is broken which happens quite often in Delco distributors given their age. I usually replace the insulted wire from the points plate with braided "de-soldering wick copper" as it is a better current carrier than the stranded insulted wire that was used. I use IgnitorII and IgnitorIII modules and set up the rev limiter on the IgnitorIII using a 9VDC radio battery on the workbench then confirm the "rev limiter RPMs". AFTER the "rev limiter" is set and in use....I ALWAYS go and put a dab of RTV on the adjusting screw of the rev limiter to seal the module from outside moisture and ozone from the distributor. I use the 0.32 OHM high output Pertronix Ignition Coils but, I know they had some quality issues with those coils when they shifted production overseas. I think they returned to the USA....Anyhow I'm a big fan of the system with 40 years of expirience using them. I gap my plugs @ ).040" and they seem to perform great.....I've used them in builds that have run 7,800RPMs and made over 500HP on a dyno. I used to use MSD's being triggered by a Delco Transistor Ignition magnetic distributor but, found out this style of system was VERY VOLTAGE SENSITIVE! and if Voltage dropped much below 12.5VDC that ignition timing could be greatly effected by the voltage drops. As far as points type distributors....I still have a stash of NAPA Echlin CS86 breaker points which have a stiffer spring than the CS786 points normally called for in the catalog...As someone has said already the CS7860 Hi-Performance points set has an insane amount of spring pressure on them you should avoid those. Fun Fact the "solid lifter" Chevy motors of the 60's and early 1970's had special breaker cams on them to prevent high RPM points bounce....Sig Earson Cams also sold a high RPM distributor points cam....This is the reason that Hi-Po Z/28's fried their points sets about every 4-6,000 miles back in the day. There is also a high performance rotor for Delco distributors that has a longer copper blade on it to decrease the spark gap to the distributor cap NAPA Echlin part RR1670 or the Accel brand rotor has the longer blade on it. It's best to completly service the distrubtor by completly disassembling it cleaning it and greasing/lubing it up when doint the conversion....Here's a car I put an IgnitorIII into that has over 25,000 miles and just ran 13.07 @ 109MPH in street trim @ the Drag Strip.....Link: