Turn on the ignition and measure the voltage at the + on the coil and the neg on the block. Buy a digital multimeter for ten bucks at Autozone....etc. The coil is most likely is labeled "use with 6 v systems only" if you have /had points it is 6 v. Also the fancy 12V high performance ones brag about it; they are labeled. There is a resistor wire somewhere to be bypassed if you want 12V at the Pertronix. I don't know where that wire is. (Somebody want to answer that??) I am running the Pertronix I and a stock coil. If I were to put a high performance (45,000 volt) coil in I would need to do the bypass to benefit from the high per. coil. The Pertronix doesnt run any differently with 6 or 12 volts from a stock 35,000 volt coil. BTW....open your spark plug gap to .040 from .035 you have more spark now! Check timing too!
If you are just replacing your points with the Pertronix I - there is no need to worry about your stock wiring and coil. It will work just fine. I've put the Pertronix I in every brand of car, Mercruiser boats, farm tractors, even my AC road grader. Never have had a failure yet. The factory does recommend not to leave the key on long without the motor running. If you do need to leave the key on while working on the electrical system or something, just pop off the hot side wire at the coil while you do the work.
okay i need some help hooking this up. can someone take a picture of the inside of their distributor and how they hooked up the wiring on the coil? i dont want to mess this up. thanks
just install it where the points were and hook the wire to the post where the wire from the dist with points is and it will work Harry
Red wire to BATTERY side of coil - black wire to DISTRIBUTOR side of coil And when you get it installed, set the air gap between the magnet and the pickup using that little plastic feeler guage. Takes longer to read the directions then it does to install it.
Have run a Pertronix for almost 20 years and never had any problems. Will be running another one in my current project. They now have a Pertronix III version which is a complete solid state ignition. Multistrike capability with built in adjustable rev limiter. They claim the multistrike runs all the way through the rpm range and not stop at 3000 rpm like most. If you are using a stock ford yellow top coil you need to retain a ballast resistor or pink wire otherwise the coil will be damaged. Manufacturer of the coil should specify whether a ballast is needed. The gap on the pickup is not critical. Hookup is Red to +, Black to - at the coil. Make sure you retain the ground strap between the moving plate and dist housing inside the dist. Otherwise it will be unreliable. Mine still has the pink wire in circuit and has never been an issue. Have always kept a set of points, condensor and wire in the glove box just in case. But have never needed them. RS
sorry, but one last question, how do you set the air gap? the instructions dont go into detail on this. thanks.
_The kit comes with a strip of plastic which is about .030" in thickness. Insert that between the pickup and rotor and adjust the module to that. That's it nothing else to do except install the rotor and dist cap and set the timing. RS
Iput it in my 73 comet 302 about 10 years ago. Just pull out the old points and cond.install new parts and never touch it again. I have never removed the dist.cap since i put it in . I hope it's still in there. I also recommended it to a frend for his old farm tractor. He put it in and said the tractor never run as well as it does now he is very happy. He told some frends and they are all going to do the same
I've installed them on every vehicle I've owned that had points. Never had a problem and they always ran better with the Pertronix in them. However, on my son's 1970 F-150 with a 390 in it the truck ran better, but not as much as I expected. After about six months I installed a Pertronix coil, too. That really made a difference! So, now I always install a coil when I install a Pertonix unit. YMMV.
Stuck a petronix II and Flamethrower II into my comet Gt. Instead of pulling out the resistor wire I used the original ignition to pull in a relay and bring 12V straight to the coil. Went from a rolling miss to idling and running smooth as silk. Also liked to bog down around 2k rpms like it was rev limiting, relay fixed all the problems. 18mpg on a carb'd 302 isn't bad at all.
The Mustang still has it's original Pert I and going strong. Installed a Pert I in my current project and have since upgraded it to a Pert III. Pink ballast wire still in circuit and working just fine. RS
