Anybody want to school me on electronic ignition?

HeroDreamer said:

I need to replace the points on my 66 (289 v8). I have never done this before but have often seen kits for converting the ignition to electronic. I am not interested in keeping the car original so is this the best option? Just looking for some schooling on the subject...also, which particular kit would be best? Thanks!

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Far and away your best option is Pertronix I. No rewiring of the car, no need to change the coil, the unit replaces your points and condenser, and the distributor lead wire. You can do the whole job in 15 minutes. Remove the points, condenser, and lead wire. Thread the ignitor leads through the lead wire hole and connect them to the coil. Attach the module where the points were, drop the sensor ring over the cam, and use the included plastic spacer to set the gap between the ring and module. Install the rotor and cap and you are done.

I have the Pertronix II in mine, and I could not be happier. It fires right up, is reliable as a rock and probably helped the mileage. I say probably because mine's been on there since this motor combo was new, so I can't honestly say what it would have gotten with points. As far as I know the main differences between the Pertronix I and the Pertronix II is that the II adjusts the dwell as you drive, and if you accidently leave the key on, it won't fry the module. Being the idiot I am, I have tested the latter twice.

That's a description of what you currently have. If your car has a single points, vacuum advance distributer (most likely) then that's the unit you need. Some cars like the Boss 302 or 289 hipo had dual point distributers stock, and they need the ones for the corresponding distributer. An easy way to tell is to pop off your distributer cap and have a look. If it has a vacuum canister outside and only one set of points, you now know what you have.

Another difference between the Pertronix I & II is the II doesn't develop a miss fire after a thru the carb "hiccup backfire" When the "I" does this, you have to kill the ignition and restart the car. Crane's XR-1 is another good unit. I've used all three, the Pertronix I is the only one that had the issues listed above.

i'm running a Mallory Mnilite conversion in my stock dizzy and it's been dead nuts reliable except for a few bad modules back in the early 90's but Mallory had a bad batch of modules back then and owned up to it, since then i've had no problems with it all. Accel also has a version of this system too (both owned by Mr gasket now) and it's quite a bit less expensive since it doesn't have the Mallory name on it. you can get the Accel system on ebay for about $45 bucks which is quite a bit cheaper than any of the Pertronix systems. it's identical to the Mallory system other than the color of the plastic parts and the packaging they come in. the Acell system comes in a plastic package much like a hot wheels car and the Mallory system comes shrink wrapped to a card in a nice box so it makes a better presentation.....big deal!!!!!! i've bought the Accel kit for my 69 cougar but i haven't installed it yet because the car has been sitting since 95 and i want to minmize problems at start-up so it'll get started with a replacement points set and then i'll change it over to the Accel system after that.

I personally like the duraspark setup for it's cost ..a junkyard trip will net you the distributor, harness and module for maybe 20-50$