Howdy. I used to drive a 72 comet in high school and 30 years later I found one again. It is a 1972 Comet, 200 I6, basic as it can get. No radio, no a/c, nothing. LOL It has been sitting for 12 years in a garage in Calif. . 59, xxx miles on it. I am starting to get it back on the road. It will be a slow project for me. I have put a new radiator in and will be putting a heater core in soon. I have put on new wires, plugs, cap and rotor. It does start and drive but not safe for the road. SO, I was looking at the putting in electric ignition and that made me look at the distributor. How can I tell what kind of distributor I have? Vacuum hoses lead to a "switch"? What is this? Vacuum hoses look good but am I missing one, From the top of the vacuum actuator? Pertronix Ignitor I or II and do I need their coil? Thanks in advance....
First off...the vacuum hoses connections are to not from. The carburetor is making the vacuum not the distributor. First pic is part of the Temperature Activated Vacuum (TAV) System. http://1bad6t.com/Maverick/repair/emission_controls_04.html (scroll about half way down) 2nd pic see http://1bad6t.com/Maverick/repair/70-72vac.html California emissions are different than the other 49 states
Connect the hose on carb directly to front of dist, open port on dist remains disconnected, toss the rest of it... Welcome to 1967 when engines mostly ran without issue...
I wondered if it was something to do with CA emissions. Is it something that affects drive-ability? can I just leave it? or like Krazy-Comet mentioned, to just by pass it? What kind of Distributor is this? Is it a dual vacuum advance?
See http://1bad6t.com/Maverick/repair/engine_repair_01.html ...again scroll almost half way down the page. If you don't have to get a state emission inspection on a '72 model I would bypass it. Don't plug the inboard port because then it can't breathe. Run the vacuum line some where and leave the end of the hose open so it can breathe. Todays gasoline is formulated different than it was back in the day making most of these emission Band-Aid's on these engines obsolete.
I also have this CATV system on my '74 250. What benefits might I see if i bypass/get rid of all this system?
For your Ignitor question, you don't need their coil for Ignitor I. They recommend you run their coils with the Ignitor II, but that's because they also recommend you bypass the factory resistor wire, thus supplying full 12 volts to the coil, which normal coils can't really handle. That being said, I've read that others have run both Ignitors without bypassing the resistor, and on stock coils. If all you're after is eliminating the points, the Ignitor I is perfectly sufficient.
I bought their coil just because the Pertronix ignition installation instructions said it should have a coil with 3-4.5 ohms resistance. My stock one measured 7.5 ohms. Wasn't sure if it was bad or just came that way, either way I thought I'd better swap it out.