Right.....thats what I understood. I have kept the orginal coil...for now.

 

I understood, taht you were to bypass the resister going to the coil. This is what I did, and mine has worked perfectly, for soem time now. Don't remmember, I may have bypassed the resister going to the distributer to. On my 64, there is a built in resister in the wiring, so I had to run directly to the coil, from the igntion switch. Anyway, this is what it said to do in the instructions, on my coil, which is just the plain black one they sell.

Rich

 

I just followed the pictures on the paper.

I think I am might consider going back to points though. I am not sure I like how this works when it is cold and is hard to crank. If your voltage drops from cranking a little more than normal, it aint gunna start.

 

Opus, Do yourself a favor, and try a Flamethrower coil before dumping the ignitor. You should see your starting problems go away. If you get the coil, put away the ballast and increase plug gap to .040. Then if you are still not satisfied, run points, Flamethrower, and no ballast.
If you decide to go the points route I would be interested in your Pertronix.
Mike

 

I've been using the Pertronix on my 67 Mustang for about 4 years now and on an old 72 Mercrusier motor for 3 years with no problems at all.
Your voltage drop could be from your battery getting past it's prime or corroded connections. Your coil could also be getting weak. If it ran OK before, there is no reason that I can see that you have it wired wrong.

 

How 'bout if I sell you my coil?

I will look at a Flamethrower.

It happened again today....cranked slow due to the cold and wouldnt fire. Grrrr....drag out the charger, hook it up and start it immediately in a few turns. 0 degrees, just what I wanted to do.

<note> $30.99 for a Flamethrower II a good price?

 

Hi Opus-I'm surprised from my experience that you are having trouble-all I replaced were the points and condensor with the petronx "box"-nothing else. Weak battery or not, cold weather or not, I have had no trouble that I am aware of. I love the set up since the y block distributor is a pain to access-and I havent had to monkey with this set up since installation 5 years ago.
good luck.
ED

 

The only trouble is when it is cold...and cranks slower than on a hot day....bummer.

 

Opus, couple things you might want to check. Battery voltage, ground connections, starter drag. Starter drag, can drain a lot of juice, especially when it is cold. One other thing, what weight oil are you running? What temperature is it getting down to? Could be multiple small problems, producing one large negative one. Something else, seems I've heard, that hooking up the petronix wrong, will ruin it. Not sure where I saw this discussion, but may have been over at the Slick 60's. I spend a lot of time there. It could have been, at any of a number of different site's though. The grounding sounds like a possible culprit, as this may get worse from the cold if you've got some bad connections. I would deffinatley, go and have a load test done on the battery. It has to be fully charged for this to work right. You might also, check and see if you are having a short problem of some sort. Easy enough to tell, jus remove the battery cable from the negative side, and watch to see if you have a spark. This won't work if your running an alternater, or have something draining juice from the battery, when ignition is off. I wouldn't go back to points, unless I had to. My engine runs so much better with the petronix igniter, like daylight, and dark. Runs smoother, revs higher, and more evenly, just no hassle getting it set right. Points are a replace at least twice a year thing, or has been for me. At least if you want the engine to run like it should. I don't have that problem now. I plan on replacing all pooints in my truck, with either this setup, or Ford electronic ignition.

Rich

 

64 f-100, good points all and well put.

 

Starter is new 2 months ago, been checked. 5w30 on the oil not colder than -10 in the mornings yet, and it generally sits for a few days. Pertronix is setup correctly, grounding is good, went through all that this fall. Running an alternator too. I am thinking it may not be charging higher than 12-13v, if I recall the last time I checked it. That could be an issue...or the battery could be on its way out. Will do a load test, I forget what it said this fall. It must have been good cause I didnt replace it.

 

I have had a unit in my 73 for about 10 years with no resistor, and it fires great.

I think I would dump the resistor first.

 

Something is wrong somewhere, just wondering, if your alternater is siphoning offtoo much juice. An alternater will drain a battery, when setting, but it usually takes a while. I've noticed some of the newer battery cables are pretty light duty, and even some heavy ones, I've had some problems with. I've also heard of resistence problems with original wiring. Don't hear of this often, but it does happen. Not sure how that happens, or why. The common thread here is cold starting. Is your engine high compression? I've also heard of rebuilt starters being poor quality, at times, and giving problems. I would still check starter amperage draw, under the trouble conditions. Don't know if you can get one anymore, but at one time, you could buy a little meter, to place on the battery cable while cranking, that would give the draw. Basically an old time amp gauge, but with a larger amp reading.
I like the idea, of going without the resister, and seeing what happens. Worst case scenario, you go back to points sooner. I keep points, condenser, and extra screw in my glovebox, in case of emergencies. You can't clean an igniter, and make it work. About points and our older trucks. About half of the old trucks I've bought, had a new set of points in the glove box. Just thought this was amusing, and indicative of how much, of a problem, points are. Have you tried puting the points back in, and see if the problem still exists? Another thought, that comes to mind, is Fords cold starting behavior. This generally was a fuel problem, and is often much worse, because of the slow engine turnover. Not enough vacuum, to pull the fuel in. I assume, that you've checked to see if you have fire, when this condition occurs? I've also forgotten, which engine you are running, Y-block? If so, when was the last time you adjusted the valves? Just throwing out ideas, to see if anything clicks.

Rich

 

Hey Opus, i thought before you had a charging or battery problem, now i do not know what type alternator you're using, i use a delco remy, but if you are using a late model ford alternator, they can charge great, but let them sit for two days and the alternator DIODE can drain a battery down, try this, next time you run it and drive it, disconnect the battery ground, then next time you need to crank it, put the ground back on and try it, if it cranks real slow, then you can know you need a new battery, if it fires up good you know it's your alternator diode draining it down, i still wouldn't be using a ballast resistor on a petronix, but i have good luck n points so i'm going to continue to use them......Janet

 

the instructions say that you can wire the unit up to 12v or the coil. so I would keep the resistor on the coil lead, but wire the petronix up to the ballast lead, so it bypasses the ballast, but the coil is still protected.