redoldsman

As most you know, this is a subject that has been discussed and rediscussed. I think the opinions are about evenly divided. I have always come down on the side of Pertonix since I have had one in my 54 for almost 4 years. The argument against points is the maintenance and finding a good set of points. The argument against Pertronix is it can fail and leave you on the side of the road. I am here to tell you that can happen for sure. I am speaking from experience. I went to one of my favorite car shows last Saturday that is about 20 miles from my home. It is one done in conjunction with the CAF. The are lots of neat old warbirds there and some nice cars. I left my house about 8:00 Saturday morning with the top down and had a great drive to the show. They changed to judging this year and instead of having classes you just voted on the 15 cars you liked the best. They had top 40, top 30, top 20 and top 10. I was fortunate enough to land in the top 10. I also saw Sgt. R.V. Burgen who is the WWII Marine I carried in the Veterans Day Parade in 2014. He is 95 years old and really doing well. We discussed doing the parade again this year. After getting my picture made in front of a couple vintage planes I left around 2:00. It was pretty warm by this time but I left the top down. Car was running good. When I was on I-20 right before my exist on to I-635 north, the car started losing power and missing. Right after I made the exit the old gal just quit. This is a very busy intersection but I made it to the right shoulder. I called my wife first and then called the wrecker company. They got there in about 45 minutes. I had taken my fold out chair and a clamp on umbrella and moved down in the ditch to be out of the way in case some fool hit my car. It was a $200 wrecker bill to get her to my driveway. I started trouble shooting the old gal yesterday. She was getting gas and the coil was good. The only thing left was the Pertronix module. Fortunately I had a spare distributor so I dug it out. I filed the points and gapped them and replace one wire inside the distributor. I stabbed it in. Today I finished installing the coil and resistor. She hit and I adjusted the distributor a little to get her to run. I put the timing light on and set the timing and she sounded great. So now I will join Tedd, other Eric and all the others who are proponents of points. I have checked Rock Auto and they look to have some of the good stuff. I am going to buy new points, condenser and a new coil. After I install them, I will keep the old ones in my toolbox in the trunk for use in an emergency. The old gal wasn't really to blame on this one. My modification was. So now I will change to those in favor of points and remain there. By the way, I had a nice serving of crow pie for labor day lunch. I hope you guys had a great Labor Day.

66-3X2 442

Here is the answer to electronic breakerless modules. I have had one in my car for years with zero problems or issues. The owner of M&H told be that his module has 3 built in safe guards against failure due to electric spikes,shorts etc. You do have to run the proper coil,not the cheap Chinese crap. I run a standard AC Delco old style coil that has the proper ohms/voltage etc. It's a one wire hook up just like the points,very simple and easy to use. The part # is 38131 and here's the link to their site. Click on the link on the left side for the info for the module.

http://www.wiringharness.com/

redoldsman

I had the Pertronix coil. I have had the unit in my car for almost 3 years. There was nothing out of ordinary that should have made it fail. I love the quick starting and no maintenance but I did not like being stranded on the side of a very busy interstate. I think of some of the trips we have made out of town and this event could have been really ugly. The M&H unit would not work on my car since I have the original distributor which is not external adjustment. I am glad it has worked well for you and hope it continues to do so.

zeeke

I argued this point (no pun intended) more than many times with people. I ran points for years and never had an issue with proper maintenance but getting stuck with a bad distributor wire on a brand new AC Delco unit and seeing the evidence of points laying on a shelf for years I just purchased from Rock Auto, I've decided to give the module a try. I just picked up a F.A.S.T unit with a rev limiter and a F.A.S.T coil as well. I too keep a spare set in the trunk along with the new dwell meter. I hope I'm not making a mistake in doing so, but I caved after countless arguments, and am going to give it a shot. I'll keep the points and condensor just in case and if all works well possibly get a spare module. Although lying in a trunk is probably not a good spot for a spare.

Ozzie

There is no substitute for having a backup for any ignition, but is most important for any semi-conductor controlled ignition. The points will usually provide warning of a deteriorated situation (in the form of sad running) long before complete shutdown occurs. The semi-conductors will often fail with little warning. Life seems to usually be some sort of trade-off. Thanks for providing the information.

P.S. I hope that wrecker lifted the back of the car or removed the propeller shaft as per the manual if you've got the Hydramatic.

redoldsman

Thanks Ozzie. The wrecker was a flatbed. I wouldn't use anything else.

oldcutlass

Sorry to hear of your unfortunate breakdown.

VC455

Amen, brother. They have a well-deserved reputation for quality. Pertronix exists so that people can spend less and feel good (for a while).

I use another bullet-proof solution: The K-66 distributor module and an MSD amplifier.

joe_padavano

Look, all the coil cares about is that the wire from the distributor is alternately grounded and opened, hopefully at about the right time relative to TDC. The coil can't tell if this function is provided by a mechanical switch (points) or an electronic switching circuit. As noted, so long as the points are well maintained, performance will be exactly the same. Obviously electronic systems don't require the periodic maintenance of points, and laziness is the main reason why I use them. People forget that the GM HEI (high voltage coil-in-cap system) was developed not for performance, but to satisfy federal emissions requirements that cars had to still meet emissions standards after 50,000 miles with NO maintenance whatsoever. The higher voltage and larger plug gap ensured the cylinders would fire on worn, crusty plugs.

Now, having said that, there ARE benefits to an electronic system over points. Unfortunately, most points replacement systems like Pertronix don't take advantage of these.

First, since points rely on a mechanical cam to open and close them, they are subject to the laws of physics - specifically inertia. Above a certain RPM, the spring in the points physically cannot close them fast enough for the next cylinder to fire. This is point bounce and causes high-RPM ignition problems. Electronic systems have no such limitation (well, they do have timing issues with the charging of capacitors, but that time frame is typically so short that it is meaningless). Few Olds motors will turn enough RPMs for this to matter, however.

Second, mechanical points are at the mercy of geometry. Longer dwell times can improve spark output from the coil, but on a V8 engine the points need to open and close eight times for every 360 deg of distributor rotation. Allowing time for the points to open and close, this is why dwell is typically limited to 30 degrees. Dual point distributors mitigate this problem by using separate sets of points to close and then open the circuit. Electronic timing circuits are not limited by this geometry problem since the dwell time can be independent of the trigger time (up to the limit of 360/8 = 45 deg theoretical max.

Finally, electronics enables lots of other features like multi-spark, variable timing, etc, etc. These latter features are why electronic systems are frequently better, but a simply points replacement kit from Pertronix doesn't do that.

Tedd Thompson

If paranoid carry a spare module and a set of points. The whole setup doesn't take up more room in the glove box than a pack of Lucky Strikes (a'm I dating myself)and you can fix what ever has crapped out along side of the road.. Stuff happens with old cars.

If you want to have external adjustment on your distributor find a 56 distributor and the window will be there like the later cars.Fits fine.

The old saying holds true if It has tires or ti#$ it will give you trouble some day.... Tedd

redoldsman

Thanks Tedd. I have ordered a new set of points, a condenser, a new coil and a new resistor from RockAuto. I guess I forgot the rotor. I will install these and then put my old ones in a ziplock back and carry them for spares. My car seldom runs much over 3,000 RPM's and is probably driven less that 1,000 miles a year. I think the old gal will be happy with points and I will have more peace of mind that I won't be stranded on the side of the road.

oldcutlass

Caps need to be replaced periodically also, inspect the contacts on the inside to make sure they don't have build up on them. Also inspect the center button for wear.