Re: Distributor Compatibility Question

Posted by Ross On 2018/5/27 7:32:20

I am squarely with Owen on this one. I have had it with pushing electronic updated old cars through intersections and loading other ones up on trailers after the module blew up.

At first I was enthused and tried some on my own cars looking for the improved gas mileage and quicker starts. I'm pretty careful about gas mileage and the improvement was not there. 17 was still 17. Quicker starts? My 56 with points starts instantly once gas reaches the carb. The 51 is the same. That car would absolutely not start when chilled when I had the Pertronix in it as the voltage would dip below the trigger point while cranking.

I have reached the conclusion that the vast improvements recorded by many are in part psychological suggestion and partly genuine improvement over a system in dire need of tuneup.

I've no doubt that a fully integrated and engineered system will last faaaaaar longer than a set of points and produce a spark even when the plugs are greatly deteriorated. That is what we routinely observe with modern cars.

But in the real world of antique cars, I have driven my 50 Champion with points year round (it is the bad weather car) for 15K miles over the last 3 years. Ignition is still fine though I will probably give it a tuneup in the near future.

Make your life simpler and easier and just put a set of points and condensor in the glove box.