Re: Distributor swap

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2011/1/26 10:04:17

For whatever it's worth (and as Randy Berger often reminds, us, it's worth exactly what your paid for it), here's my take and experience on Pertronix in my 56 Caribbean.

I don't find changing points and condensor every 10,000 miles or so a chore, in fact I rather enjoy it. And to do it properly I always remove the distributor so I can clean and lubricate the centrifugal advance mechanism and the breaker plate swivel, something that is very likely to be neglected if you install electronic components. But on the Carib I couldn't remove the distributor easily w/o a slide-hammer such as is shown in the shop manual, and to install points hanging over that fender is not my idea of joy. Thus I installed Pertronix. I noticed no change in power, gas mileage (about 14 with the dual quads on the highway), or ease of starting (always starts almost instantly). That said, with points the change in timing and dwell as the rubbing block and tungsten contacts wear, degrades so slowly it's usually imperceptible until such time as you installed new points and retimes. To me at least, that's probably the only significant advantage of the Pertronix unit.