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I did not actually see it but a local collector car owner told me when he accidentally left his ignition on overnight the Pertonix unit melted! I am not saying for a certainty this is a true story but maybe it is. I have on occasion accidentally left the ignition switch on and burned out a point set but they are inexpensive relative to the electronic unit. Has anyone heard of this or had this unfortunate experience also?

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Move we agree henceforth Packard V8 does not recommend electronic ignitions. Is there a second to this motion?

jack vines

There are many reported failures of the 6-volt Pertronix units in Packards - so many that one distributor of the units has ceased selling them. Can't say I've heard of any problem with the 12-volt units, though.

Yesterday it was warm enough to play out in the driveway so i decided to install a delco distributor and the pertronix ignition system . it was a breeze and the delco gears matched perfectly I had a nos distributor from Max Merritt and would say the engine ran a little smoother and cold starts are improved, I tested that today.(of course the engine running smoother could be as a result of retiming). I will keep the old points around for a while actually i will keep the old distributor around with the points not disturbed so a swap back would be fast either way. I think the pertronix was around $75 and the new distributor was close to $200

Jack,

The Jacobs unit in the Packard was purchased from Summit Racing in 2006 for $135.95 plus $7.95 shipping. It is their FC1000 unit and was their base, lowest price, no-frills (without rev-limiter, etc) unit at the time it was purchased. I later purchased their C-4, 60,000 volt coil for $60.00 plus shipping. As for availability and costs, today, I have not investigated this as have not needed one but the Internet is my usual source for all non-Packard specific equipment for the car. I simply compare product and price. I have depended upon Sandy Chirco at Tucson Packard for the majority of the Packard-only parts that I've been unable to reference in the Hollander Exchange Manuals and purchase locally at parts stores since I acquired the car.

I left the stock coil in its stock position so that switching back to points, should the Jacobs unit fail (it hasn't) would be easier.

The other unit that is in the Lincoln was from a private seller and is/was advertised and sold as a specific application for the stock (non-high performance) Ford 302/5.0 and has a rev-limiter and its own coil of the same shape and mounting holes as the original.

No special tools or equipment was needed to install either unit although (as posted by me on this forum at the time) I did have to install a simple (+) to (-) signal converter relay between the distributor and the Jacobs unit on the Packard in order to provide the Jacobs unit the negative signal that it requires to operate. Other than that the wiring harness and fuses that came with the unit installed exactly as the simple instructions that came with them indicated and, as someone else pointed out, the units come with more than adequate wiring to mount nearly anywhere. Mine is mounted under the right front fender on the Packard.

So far as the Pertronix unit installed before the Jacobs system is concerned, it was the basic 12V+ unit that I ordered and also installed with simple tools exactly as the instructions that came with it indicated. I'm sorry that I can't give you a price on it but that's been at least six years ago and I just don't know but it was purchased via the Internet as well and, I believe, directly from Pertronix.

FWIW, I searched for quite a while and cannot find a Jacobs FC1000 for sale. Anyone know where to go to get one?

jack vines