Anyone change to pertronics from the original duraspark? Advice needed.

Have a friend that is changing over to pertronics from the duraspark that was in his car, and need to know what wire to use and where its located, also does he need a ballast resister, or is there a wire already in place for that?

 

I think the instructions for the pertronics said...12V power (9V min) no ballast resister.

 

Why does he wanna get rid of the Duraspark?

 

Second that on getting rid of the ballast resistor. Also a good idea to get their matching coil.

There are now 3 levels of Pertronics conversions. I got the basic one, back when it was the only choice, and it made a big difference. My motor has just enough mods that stock points ignition was barely getting the job done.

 

Got me, Pete's kinda like that, now he needs help to wire this thing so it works.

 

I always thought the Duraspark system doesn't use a ballast resistor.

 

I always thought the Duraspark is higher on the food chain that Pertronics

 

That's a good observation, I'd never switch if I already had the Duraspark...

Yes Duraspark uses a resistor in coil feed...

 

I'd keep the Duraspark if the car came from the factory with it. Pertronix is nice for upgrading from points, and looks cleaner too.

 

I just put in a pertronix. Used the wire that went to old ignition coil to trigger a painless wiring relay. From relay to new pertronix ignition coil. Wire positive and negative of distributor to +/- of ignition coil.

The pertronix instructions called for grounding distributior to the hold down bolt... this didn't work for me.... and caused me to chase my tail for a while. Distributor would always test good in shop and not work when I got home.

Should be simple install.

 

What's the relay for?

 

The existing ignition wire is resistive and will not give you 12v, but you can use it to trigger relay.

 

That's exactly how I wired my Comet... The relay will receive plenty of voltage to trigger the relay coil as it only pulls maybe 100ma (1/10A), on mine voltage drop was .2v, or still slightly over 12v on just battery voltage... Relay supplies voltage to a MSD unit...

I've been considering going to a Duraspark-II, have a brand new blue grommet module and the MSD is no doubt overkill... I'll have to install a resistor, can't go back to original wiring as my fuse/relay panel also supplies voltage for electric fan, choke, headlights, etc...

 

Yes make sure you match coil, I used original wire to trigger a 40 amp relay, they work quite well, clean the hold down and will ground fine