In an effort to avoid freaking out the serious restorer I'd like to make it clear that my ignition problems are going a bit abaft the traditional. Here and there in various forii I've noted some problems thought to be vapor lock, weak coil, plug wires or that nasty tailpipe carb. Wanted a nice reliable ignition system before mounting the 3 hairy 94's.
So I go to pick up granddaughter in our warm summer afternoon... babying the truck, keeping the revs up... but it won't start after a brief visit with daughter who is working with Doc Jacobs on a computer problem. Jacobs is the Jacobs of Jacobs Electronics. Great guy. Guess he hears the starter trying and Himmelberg sweating... comes out and suggests we check the ignition. Slaps one of his units on the fender... hooks up and it starts! Here I learn that the ballast resistor gets hot and doesn't really love working in the heat... I have wimpy 7mm plug wires (Accel) and same coil. Get home. Call grandson... he drops the Pro Street unit off on his way to scouts. This baby is going in tomorrow... don't try to stop me George. I'm serious. This goes for you other restorers, too. I'm moving heater wires and everything to get this mounted... right over the dent that son-in-law put in the firewall.
Best. himmelberg

 

Man how come I get a flat and harvey firestone isn't sitting on the side of the road? Man some people have all the luck.... About that ignition I won't even bother, your about as stubborn as Daryl . Jacobs box on a y-block, never thought I'd see that one.... -4speed

 

Peter, if it keeps the old girl running the way you want - go for it.

Remember that Earl and his kind are special cases. They will have the luxury of all-new everything and meticulous maintenance, and I fully understand that situation really is a luxury.

I've owned (and currently own) a lot of vehicles in the twilight of their lives. They just aren't worth the effort to go through and fix everything so there are no intermittent connections, old wiring, etc. If it makes 'em go, I use it. Soup can exhaust repairs and milk bottle coolant overflow tanks are not unknown in my garage.

 

Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys. Now, somebody get Carl out from under those old LTDs and find out if Jacob's gizmo will work with a Pertronix ignitor... or is himmelberg going to arcweld a 54 pickup into a solid lump of varied metals and rubber? Just a thought as I go back to work. School starts Monday... perhaps then I can put this wicked hot August behind me. Best. Himmelberg

 

Hey, I came up for air.
Ive a buddy who swears that the Jacobs is the best thing out there and converts a bunch of Jeeps and others for serious off road work. He keeps telling me to convert all my stuff over but they are pretty pricey; something around $300 or so? Also says his jeep starts instantly in winter weather as well as an honest 3-4 mpg improvement. I had a hard time believing the mpg tho; seems that Detroit would be all over that in an instant.

Im not up on all these fancy ignitions but I'll ask him about compatibility with Petronix.

Now can I go back to getting greasy and sore?

 

Peter, you must be livin' right out in west Texas! I can only hope one of my daughters will grow up to work in a field that supports her daddy's hobbies!

Slap that puppy in there and before you know it, you'll be installing power windows and an AC!

Good Luck,

 

Peter,


Whatever will work to keep you running and driving. It's much better to be driving than to have expensive lawn art.

On another note.. reading your initial post, I realized exactly how informative and cultured this forum is. Your use of the correct plural for forum (forii) illustrates exactly how learned our members are.

Reading and learning

Steve
Proud to be associated

 

When I got my Crane Cams electronic igniton I looked to see if one of the wheels it came with would fit on my 8BA just out of curiosity, and it did. Didn't see if the eye thing could but that would be easy to install. If only it could fit on the 21A.

Clayton

 

Carl,
I agree with you. If you cruise a variety of news groups the concensus of the Jacob's boxes seems to be questionable. Any deep analysis finds it heard to justify the expense. Most racers use MSD. The Crane is also a multispark unit.
But I bought Jacob's book anyway and learned some useful tips from it. For example, the cheap generic Chrysler box (Standard LX-101) is a great low buck box. Have since learned it can be triggered by darn near anything (even a set of points) and makes a great substitute for the flaky duraspark box.
I've converted just about everything I own over to pointless setups, and just use either GM HEI modules or else the LX-101. Be aware that the GM HEI uses a different impedance coil and runs on 12V. But either setup is a vast improvement over the point setup. It's not the ultimate setup, but I'm not racing anyway. If you are on a budget, take a look at the LX-101,
Adios,
Brett

 

I have a friend (actually I have 2) who runs a Jacob box on his roundy round race car and I don't know about mileage but his lap times came down and he hasn't had an ignition problem since. I say Jacobs box on a Y block isn't any worse than an MSD or HEI (yeah I know) on a flathead and it works for me!




Better living and driving through electronics - Yeah!

 

OK, boys, she's in. With all due caution, this thing is installed. Lots of big clunky parts and wires but the results are satisfactory to date. Starts instantly. Hot or cold... of course, cold being around 70F. This is the desert, you know. I sat down and read Jacob's book again. For our friend Fourspeed who thought he'd never see one, I submit....

292 with ratty T-bird valve covers, tailpipe carb and Jacobs Pro Street ignition. Gotta love it.
Best. Himmelberg

 

'berg,
You'll never look back...
Brett
PS. The ratty T-Bird covers are the 'piece de resistance'.
God Speed!

 

Is that set up triggered by points? Has your mileage gotten better with this set up? I have thinking about getting a MSD box for my truck and useing the points to triger it. When I put a pertronix it ran great at first than it seem to fade and start missing and acting simple. I had to put the points back in but runs fine that way. If these things work like they say they do I will be sold on it. Their is nothing wrong with trying to burn all the gas in the cylinders rather than spiten it out the exhaust pipes.

 

Ahhh, my retina's! Close the hood! Anyways, have you noticed any performance with the new box? I'm new to this "jacobs thing". Does it electrionically control the spark(I'm assuming it does)? How does it hook into the distributor? -4speed

 

^ I ment to type msd in there.