thinking about converting from points to electronic ignition on my 1969 ranger 360 fe. should i go electronic or stay with points? if i go to electronic is it a hard job to do? whats the pros & cons? any help greatly appreciated.

Upper case Edited out by FTE

 

There are a ton of posts on this subject. You ought to do a search on the "msd" or "pertronix" or "mallory" or "accel".

Just my 2 cents, but the easiest and least expensive of all of these options is the Pertronix Ignitor series. The electronic ignition is much more effective than points and doesn't need adjustment. Systems such as the Pertonix allow a hotter spark, wider plug gap burning the fuel in the chamber more effieciently. I would like to get the MSD system on mine one day but I am using the good old DuraSpark system that came stock on 73 (?) and later trucks. Works good and is cheap from the junkyard, but not as easy as Pertronix, IMHO.

 

Pertronix is a good upgrade. Keep a set of points in the glove box, and if the pertronix every dies, it's a 5min swap, and you're back in business.

 

sounds good. easiest & least expensive are phrases i always love to hear. lotsa thanx!!

 

With this pertronix upgrade do you have to replace the entire distributor? Or is it just the guts inside? Does the original spark coil stay?

 

You can keep your coil, but most get an aftermarket unit. The electronic ignition is very easy to install. 2 screws and slide a collar on the shaft. hook the wires up and enjoy the easier starts and better performance.

 

whats some pirces on these upgrades...?

 

It depends. If you buy retail, around 100 bucks. 40 for a Ignitor coil (40,000 volt) You can run the stock coil but will want to upgrade later to take advantage of the hotter spark capability. I just got a setup off of eBay for 50 bucks for my LTD. I wouldn't pay more than 60 on ebay. Just my 2 cents

 

Does summit or Jegs Carry the pertronics
If not who does?

 

jc whitney.com has it. or if you can find a duraspark distributor you can convert it to hei quick and easy. this is something i found on the net and i am using it soon. A lot of guys when converting from fuel injection to carb use the Duraspark II system. This requires pulling out the TFI distributor and coil and replacing them with the Duraspark distributor, coil, module, starter solenoid, and ballast resistor. Yeah its complicated and can get spendy but what else is there besides an even spendier aftermarket system? Well, if you don't mind a little cross breeding you can use a GM HEI ignition module. All that's required is a Duraspark distributor, HEI module, and coil. Because of the dwell control and current limiting circuits of the HEI you can use just about any coil you want, including the TFI coil, and no ballast resistor is needed.
If you are converting from fuel injection all you will need to buy is a Duraspark distributor, HEI module, and some wire and connectors to hook it all up. The cheapest place to get the Duraspark distributor is at a junk yard or swap meet, usually $20 or less. Duraspark distributors came on Ford cars and trucks from the mid seventies through the mid eighties. Make sure you get one from a 302, the 351w and 351c-460 look similar but are different. You could also get a rebuilt one at the auto parts store, generally $40 or more. Make sure you get one with the right gear for your cam. Flat tappet cams use a cast gear where roller cams use a steel gear. If you look at the shank above the teeth a cast gear will be a rough cast finish where a steel gear will be a smooth machined finish. If you want a distributor with a cast gear tell the parts guy you want one for a 5-speed '84 Mustang GT. For a steel gear tell him you have a 5-speed '85 Mustang GT. If the guy at the parts store has two distributors listed and doesn't know which is which, the one with the cast gear is always considerably cheaper than the one with the steel gear.
For the module you want a GM 4-pin HEI. They came on GM vehicles from the mid seventies through the early eighties. You can buy one new at any auto parts store. Any good parts guy will know exactly what a four pin HEI module is. Although good parts guys are hard to find so you will probably need to ask for an ignition module for a '78 Comaro with a 350. Since they are so cheap you don't need to go to the junk yard. Besides, all the junk yards around here wouldn't even sell me just the module, they wanted me to buy the whole HEI distributor to get it. The module in the picture is a Car Quest #21040 and cost me $17.77. As you can see there are four pins labeled W, G, B, and C. The G pin is a 3/16" (0.187") male quick disconnect and the rest are 1/4" (0.250") male quick disconnects.
The HEI module gets pretty hot, whatever it's mounted to needs to act as a heat sink and carry heat away from it. Mount it securely to a flat metal surface away from the headers or other heat sources. There are two pins on the back of the module that you need to break off so it will sit flat. The module will come with some heat sink compound, smear it evenly over the back of the module before bolting it down. The compound aids heat transfer. You could also mount the module to a big heat sink. I bolted mine to a heat sink from a slot type computer processor. If you're a computer geek like myself then you probably have one laying around. If not then you can buy one at Radio Shack or a computer store. Again you will want to use the heat sink compound between the module and heat sink.
Once you have it mounted you need to wire it up. The B pin goes to the positive coil lead which gets power when the key is on, and C goes to the negative coil lead. The tach. also hooks to the negative coil lead. If you are converting from fuel injection then the coil is already wired for power (red) and tach. (green). Splice into these wires. Don't remove them from the coil just add some wires to them and run them to the module. On an older car you will need to bypass the ballast resistor so you get full power to the coil and module. The Duraspark distributor has a funky three pin connector. You can just plug into it with standard 3/16" female quick disconnects. The purple wire is run to the G pin on the module, and the orange wire is run to the W pin. Run the black wire to one of the mounting screws on the module. The black wire provides a solid ground connection for the module. The module must be grounded or it will not work properly.
Like I said before you can use just about any coil you want. Basically the only coils that you can't use are aftermarket coils which are for CD (capacitive discharge) ignitions only. I recommend the TFI coil, its the square looking coil used on fuel injected Fords. They are dirt cheap and work great because they were designed for the Ford TFI which is basically the same thing as the GM HEI. If the TFI and HEI modules are the same then why can't I use the TFI? The TFI distributor uses a Hall sensor instead of a magnetic pickup so the TFI module will not recognize the "analog" signal from a Duraspark distributor. However, you could hook a TFI module to breaker points since they put out a "digital" signal like the Hall sensor. No matter what coil you use you will not need a ballast resistor. The purpose of a ballast resistor is to add series resistance to limit current through the coil. The HEI actually measure the current and when it reaches a certain point resistance is added using the switching transistor to prevent excessive current draw. So basically it has a built-in self adjusting ballast resistor.
That's all there is to it. Whether you are converting from fuel injection or piecing together a weekend warrior the HEI is hard to beat. Its easy, cheap, and a great performer. You could spend five times more on an ignition and chances are you won't see much, if any, improvement.

 

so...
I'm running a '69 390, flat tappet cam points dizzy....

I would need:
1. re-manufactured dizzy from a '76 390 F250.(cap and rotor)
2. HEI 4 pin module for a '78 camero 350cu.in.
3. coil from a '92 5.0 mustang.

and that is it?

Only thing that scares me is that I hear of guys dropping the oil pump driveshaft into the pan when making this swap... is there any method to avoid this?

 

well whenever you take the dizzy in and put it back in you always have a chance that it will fall in the pan. that is why when i built my motor i put a tiny dab of silicone on the end of the oil pump rod and stuck that into the dizzy and let it dry

 

The drive shaft should not pull out and get dropped into the pan unless someone in the past did not put the little clip thingy on the bottom side. That said there are drive shafts out there without the clip. I just got a rebuildable engine from a guy I used to drive truck for in Mesa and when I pulled the distributer the shaft popped out. I was tearing down the engine so it didn't matter. If you are careful the shaft will usually hanf up and not drop all the way into the pan.

 

yeah first mine fell and did not go in the pan. i was so lucky. but i like to put the rod on the dizzy first because the little clip is just for holding it from the oil pump. i accidentally did that in a motor once after rebuilding the dizzy. i kept the rod in and it did not go on. it had to be force though so i should not have done that but i did and the motor cranked and ran fine for about 1 minute when it froze up