Now that my ride is street legal I can start to get stuff done on it.I know there is a lot of stuff available for these trucks.I have been reading stuff for a month now.I would like to upgrade my ignition.Should I get a new distributor ar should I just get a solid state points elimination type system?I'm sorta lost here and dont want to buy junk.The truck actually runs pretty good as is but a bigger spark would be nice and not having to deal with points and condenser would be nice.I am however old enough that I know how to do this stuff but the new stuff is so much easier and efficient.I PROMISE I will contribute to this board when I get up to speed on these old trucks.Thanx for your patience,
Joe
65 250 camper special
352
cruise-o-matic

 

Upgrading to some sort of solid state ignition is a good idea for everyone except purists and folks looking for 100% original restores.

The choice between a completely differnent distributor (later OEM or aftermarket) or Pertronix is mostly one of esthetics. If you want to retain the stock look, the go Pertronix, otherwise the other options are slightly better, but not a whole lot unless you really want options like computer designed advance curves and the like.

 

Pertronix......... Like asprin and loaf bread... hard to beat

You surely can't buy better for less money.

John

 

May want to run search, and/or review the ' electrical systems and wiring ' forum. Decided to upgrade to electronic ign. on my 65 and found the forum helpful. Kind of got hungup on all the options: HEI, DUI, MSD/Mallory, Duraspark, and Pertronix to name a few. From reviewing other post, understand the Pertronix perhaps less involved and maintain original appearance as cdherman indicated. I went with Duraspark, also in event decide to go with the Mallory, or MSD ingnitor, it is an easy transition. Was able to get lot of info from internet if you run search on each of the above noted systems. When decide suggest post perhaps other members who have made the upgrade can provide some suggestions.

dave

 

Joe You have several choices. Any good electronic ignition system will surprise you at how much better the old truck runs. The hotter spark will not buck and miss but will pull harder and actually get better mileage.
I read a couple articles and saw how easy it is to upgrade to a Duraspark II.
If you have a good salvage you can harvest the wiring harness from any ford car or truck. You can get a rebuilt electronic dist at AutoZone or most any good parts store. Get a electronic dist for a 76 390. It will be about 50 and I would not modify the old dist they usually get some wear on the shaft and don't work well when worn. Once you get the setup you will wonder why you ever waited. I have been very happy with mine. The stock duraspark is fine for a stock engine. The hotter coils and modules are fine if you have warmed over engine and turn more than 5k rpms. I am going to go higher with the TFI coil on the late 80s. This is not expensive compared to other options and puts out more spark energy than the HEI system many people use.
IMHO
Oldtrapper

 

I kind of like the idea of keeping the old distributor.The Pertronix ignitor or ignitor 2 may be the ticket.Any reason to go with the ignitor 2 over the ignitor?I will prolly change the coil and wires and plugs at the same time.How hard is the install?Thanx again,
Joe

 

Changeover should take about 15 minutes.

 

Joe, Take a minute and re-read oldtrappers advice. It is good for several reasons, all Ford, parts availability, rebuilt, and best of all the price. I use Pertronix on a remanufactured Ford distributor with the flat cap, fat wires and a mallory coil. When I burned up the Pertronix I could not get a replacement for a cpuple of days and was forced to reinstall the points. If I'd had a Duraspark in there I would have been able to buy parts for that system anywhere and on sunday. In the future I will use remanufactured Ford Duraspark.

 

i had a 76 f150 that i tossed an old 390 into. a month later i wanted an electronic ignition system. i mixed a duraspark 1 into the top half of the dist along with the coil, harness, wires and, blue module. it ran much better. i guess having a few older ford parts around gave me an edge on prices. it ran for 10 years befor the relucter and inducer had to be replaced. sadly the truck had to be replaced in 2000 with an 83 f250.

 

I ordered the parts today.The duraspark sounds good but salvage yards are few and far between here.The pertronix stuff looks good and my distributor looks to be almost new.I ordered the ignitor,coil and wires.If it fails this truck is not a daily driver so its not a huge deal if I have to wait for replacements.Anyone else have issues with Pertronix?

Joe

 

I'm in the same boat as you, plumma.

I ordered the Pertronix Ignitor and Flamethrower coil for my dad's '73 F100 with a 302 V8. I'm hoping to get it installed in the near future, but am still searching these forums for answers on how to wire everything up with or without the resistor...

Keep us updated on your install.

BTW, from what I understand, you can always throw the points back in if there are any problems with the Ignitor unit as it doesn't require any modification to the distributor.

Good luck,

 

While researching type of electronic ign. found Pertronix Performance web site fairly informative. May want to check it out. If unable to find info on web page, believe they have tech support understand is helpful. Some downloads also.

dave

 

If you go with the Flamethrower coil, your wiring gets easier. You want to bypass the resistor. Go under the dash, to the ignition switch. A wiring diagram is nice, but the resistor wire is/was pink and a little thicker and coverined with some of that old woven insulation. There is a bullet connector to it in my 65, but I wager that some sort of connector is present in most trucks. Don't cut, just unplug. Now, run a nice new 16 guage wire to the "+" side of the coil. Also connect the red wire from the ignitor (the one that wants 12v) to the "+" terminal. The black wire from the ignitir goes to the "-" side of the coil.

Leave the old wires in place. In a pinch, you disconnect the new wire under the dash, plug in the old resistor wire, plunk in the old points and coil (which you have thrown under the seat for just this sort of occassion) and you are back up.

I don't know how many times I have posted the above, but there it is, once again.

Also, FWIW, the Ingitor II has a variable dwell (shortens spark at higher RPM) and it has overload protection so that the unit does not burn up if you leave the switch on. I considered the latter feature to be important enough to justify the extra cost. With the Ignitor II, you can run the Flamethrower II coil, which is hotter.

 

Thanks cdherman.

That seems easy enough. I have been doing quite a few searches on these forums for "pertronix" but had not come across such an easy explanation as yours.

To make things 100% clear for me, that new 16ga wire goes from the ignition switch straight to the (+) of the coil, correct? The pink wire and everything 'downstream' of it stays in place, but disconnected.

Thanks again!

 

Right -- just solder or crimp a new bullet connector onto the end of the new wire under the dash so that you can plug it into the pigtail from the ignition switch. Run it out to the "+" side of the coil via any of your handy holes going through the firewall.

I had a 240 in my 65, but I am certain that the wiring harness is the same. My pink wire was hardly pink at all (all my wires are various shades of grey at this point), and part of the way from the ignition switch to the firewall, it runs in another bundle of wires. But up front, at the switch, there are 3 wires coming from the switch (caution here, I did this 8 months ago and have not looked at it since). One has the aforementioned bullet connector in it about 4 inches from the switch. That's your wire.