Yeah, that was my mistake, I meant the coil must be 1.5Ω.

 

I put a Pertronix 1281 and a Pertronix Flamethrower Coil a few years ago. One of the best things I ever did for the truck. I kept burning out cheapo foreign condensers. Installed these, and never had a bit of trouble.

Somebody set me straight on this. Does the Pertronix use a different voltage supply wire than a stock point and condenser set up? I used a different wire to supply it from the ignition, either lower or higher voltage. Can't remember. Would that have been necessary?

 

The Pertronix instructions are little vague or seemingly contradictory, and/or the story gets mangled in the retelling. They vary depending on whether one is replacing just the points, but keeping the stock coil - for example if you are replacing just the points - and leaving the stock OEM coil in place - they tell you to leave the ballast (resistor) wire in place if it has one. If you are installing a Pertronix coil and the Ignitor, to remove it, or at least bypass.

Make sense? But the Ignitor itself really wants full battery voltage if possible. Here's where current flow matters. The ignition coil primary circuit must have at least 1.5 ohms resistance to do this. This keeps the current below 8 amps. Full voltage to the coil is what allows for a hotter spark. In the point system, full battery voltage is only supplied during starting, once engine is running the ballast is employed to lower the voltage (current) to keep the points from burning up right away.

Keep in mind the points style distributor rotor may burn up if you open up the spark plug gap, may be subject to arcing and crossfire to ground etc. The OEM increased the distributor cap diameter significantly when they went to solid state or transistorized ignition because of this. I use a Pertronix coil and ignitor with the old style cap, but keep the plug gap at OEM or slightly wider.

 

Thanks for the explanation Tedster. Maybe that was the change I made was not using the stock ballast wire. I know it was a bit of a hassle to figure out which wire to use, and I am not an electrical expert. I will have to put my voltmeter on both wires and see what I reading I get. I left the old wire where I have easy access to it if I wanted to switch back. I just know it has been running really well with the Pertronix system. But, I want to make sure I have it hooked up properly. Maybe it will run even better. Might post pictures this weekend if I get time.

 

"once engine is running the ballast is employed to lower the voltage (current)"

Just for clearification, though, voltage is not current. Voltage is energy (E), current is inductance (I), and multiplied they equal power which is measured in watts (W). i.e. Voltage (E) x Current (I) = Power (W).

 

No it ain't. But the reason they dropped the voltage, was to reduce the current flow through the primary circuit. It ain't the voltage that smokes the points. Plus, I was told there'd be no math on this forum!!

 

Here's the scoop: Pertronix Igniter 2 coil is a 0.6ohm coil. It is internally ballasted and can be run WITHOUT the capacitor IF you are using the Igniter 2 trigger. The coil and the trigger need 12 volts...which means taking wire 16A (aka, "The Pink Wire") out of the circuit. This is done by using an OEM-style male and female bullet connector at the ignition switch. Professionals will splice in a second female bullet here to allow for the addition of any additional 12-volt key switched accessories. (If doing this I recommend running power to a relay and fuse block...I do not know how many amps the ignition switch is rated for.) I hope to add a heated seat insert to the driver and passenger-side and don't want the truck to catch fire while unattended. (Actually, I don't want the truck to catch fire while attended either...)

 

Actually it's when using the Ignitor 2 where they tell you to use the 0.6 ohm coil, this coil is too low in resistance to be used with points or Ignitor 1 as the current through the primary will approach 20 amps. Oops! The ballast wire is a resistor not a capacitor, just sayin'.

 

Ahh, this is the confusion, I have an Ignitor, not the Ignitor 2. They're different in that the Ignitor requires 1.5Ω resistance in the coil for 8 cyl, 3.0Ω for 4 and 6cyl, the Ignitor 2 requires 0.6Ω. Sorry for the confusion.

 

I guess ignorance is bliss. Truck has been running great....NO WORRIES!! Now I am starting to question how I have the Pertronix set up wired. up. Been out messing with a few wires to see how I wired this a few years ago. Not sure I did it right, but....it runs pretty good. As we used to say on the farm..."if it ain't broke, don't fix it"!

One thing I did notice was that my coil plug seems to be etching (or corroding away). See attached picture. What would cause this?

 

I'd say heat and age...

 

Thanks Christopher! I had my wife get in the cab and crank it while I was taking some voltage readings. I noticed the spark jumping out of the coil and going up the to the top of it.

I thought it might be related to a wayward spark during operation and whittling away at the plastic. I have never seen plastic get chewed up like that in a non-mechanic way. Seems like it is being eaten away like in an electrode mold tool cutting machine. I think they are called EDM (electrical discharge machining).

Just curious if anybody else has experienced this.

Also, somebody made a comment about putting a relay on the ignition wire to feed the power from the fusebox to the Pertronix ignitor. That is going on my to do list as well. Great idea.

 

You don't want this, it could be related to that too. High energy electronic ignition forced the manufacturers to redesign distributor caps, they got a lot larger in diameter. Make sure ignition components are good and plug gap is at spec. A dollop of dielectric grease inside the boots helps.

 

Check both sides of the dizzy cap internal socket for corrosion an or the coil plug wire plug. I would also Check all dizzy spark plug cap wire sockets & inside cap contacts for a build up corrosion on the carbon inner center button.

Check all plug wires with an Ohm meter or by new wires if old..
Orich

 

I decided to start the motor tonight in the garage, and rev it up with the garage lights off to see if I could see any wayward sparking going on. None found. But, I do like the idea of checking all connections, gaps, and putting a dallop (I like that word) of dielectric grease on the inside of the wire. Not sure what is happening to the tower of that coil, but, does't appear normal.