I was wondering what all is involved in upgrading to an electronic ignition and is it a worthwhile upgrade? How much does it cost?

 

The easiest, fastest way is with a Pertronix. I got mine from Ponderosa Mustang on eBay for just under $60, shipping included.

 

Nothing to it. Get a Pertronix for about 60-70 bucks from any performance catolauge and you put it in like a set of points. First, you take off the points. Then you put a magnetic coller around the shaft under the rotor button. Then you put in the little black box where the points were. It comes with a little guage to set the distance from it and the collar, then tighten the screws. Put the red wire on the + side of the coil and the black on the - side. Close the hood and never change a set of points again. I got one for Christmas and had it in within 15 min. in my 72 F100 302. If you had a chebby, you would have to climb on top of the motor because someone along the line thought that the back of the motor was a good place for the distributor.

 

To be fair to GM, putting the distributor at the back of the motor does keep the fan from spraying water all over it.

 

Fords dont leak water to be sprayed!! Besides, I have never had a problem with this. It just gets on my nerves a bit. But it does make it easier to make a quick ID, along with port locatioins...

 

Crane is now making a unit as well, it looks VERY nice.

http://www.cranecams.com/ignition/xri.htm

65.00 at Summit

 

All this info is great, but has anyone found it helps the preformance of thier trucks in any way? Horsepower, mileage ect?

 

well, it is easier to maintain, as there are no points to get condensation on. As for performance, a small boost at highway speeds, but I really noticed a difference after I set the base timing to around 8*- 10* (as opposed to the valve cover stickers reccomended 6*). But watch for detonation.