I installed my Pertronix ignitor last night. Easy even for me, and I've never even changed a set of points. Come to think of it, now I'll probably never learn how to change points. Oh well.

My only confusion was with the coil hook up. Pertronix instructions show that a ballast resistor will be hooked up on the positive side of the coil, but on mine there is some sort of little electrical doohickey on the negative side of the coil.
Is this a ballast resistor as well?

I left the thing where it was and hooked up black-negative and red-positive like the instructions said, and it seems to work fine.

 

Some ignition systems use a `resistor wire` instead of the balast resistor.
The `thing ` on the negitive side of the coil may be a `capacitor`.... like you removed for the points .

IF>> I remember correctly ..when i called Pertronix INC... you can Safely run there module with 12 volts!! I think the balast resistor is there IF your ciol is not of the MIN resistance they specify... Again I think its 1.5 ohms or less

__JOHN__Õ¿ö
FTE Club #7
Member-
http://www.cruisin-north.com/
Santa Rosa, Calif.
72 F-250
ICQ#6030753
http://www.ford-trucks.net/users/jbhf250/
https://www.ford-trucks.com/pictorial/big/1972_f250_2.html

 

JON, I wanted to complement you on trying to handle the task!!
BUT i forgot in the last answer/comment
__JOHN__Õ¿ö
FTE Club #7
Member-
http://www.cruisin-north.com/
Santa Rosa, Calif.
72 F-250
ICQ#6030753
http://www.ford-trucks.net/users/jbhf250/
https://www.ford-trucks.com/pictorial/big/1972_f250_2.html

 

Thanks for the info and support jbhf250. I believe that the thing on my coil is a capacitor. It looks like the condensor, about the size of a lithium camera battery, and only has one wire coming out of it. I'll probably just leave it there unless given convincing advice to the contrary. I am putting in a Pertronix 1.5 ohm coil and plug wires this weekend if that makes any difference.

 

I believe that condensor is a filter capacitor to keep ignition noise out of your radio.

1977 Ford F-100
400m/c6/4:11/Gear Vender O.D.
Crane hydralic roller, forged, ported polished,Deamon,Edlebrock, yada, yada, yada
280,000 miles
Stock on the outside
modified/rebuilt everything

 

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 22-Sep-01 AT 03:42 PM (EST)[/font][p]Jon69, you disappointed me! If I were you I would pull the whole thing out and put the points back in. How else are you going to appreciate the phrase 'never change points again' ?! (lol).

You have to experience, at least once, putting the feeler guauge in, tightening, re-doing it because the gap closed, and then re-doing it a third time because you forgot the little poison-pill grease! You gotta be 'initiated'!

Seriously though:
Good job. About everything I've done on my truck fits that description: first time and no clue...so I'm with you.

Using the petronix coil made a difference for me, because my coil had no resistance and i never found one inline. But I haven't change the wires yet. John is right: you either need the ballast resistor OR a coil with internal resistance. I'm not positive if two inline resistors give their sum in resistance, but if you have ballast and put in the coil with resistance, your total might be more. I don't think there is a problem...petronix only says 1.5 is the minimum.

bear's suggestions sounded right, because I can't think of why there would be something on the negative side. But then again, I thought those noise suppressors went on the postive wire to the radio??
Try following the wire and see where it goes. Maybe someone put the resistor on the wrong side???

mike
68/F250/390/CS

 

My truck has a resistance wire built in to the harness that comes from the ignition switch to the (+) coil terminal instead of a separate ceramic ballast resistor. The Pertronix instructions say "if there is a ballast resistor leave it in". So I'm going to leave it in! You need to run a separate +12v switch wire from the ignition or some other switched source (I'm using the line I ran to my electric choke).

 

Since you are no longer using your points, this probably doesn't matter anymore. The small cylinder about the size of a AA battery that is mounted on your coil is what Ford called a Radio Condenser. The ignition section in my Ford Shop Manual shows some pictures of points that were burned and pitted. Among the list of reasons for these failures, they include "Radio condenser installed to the distributor side of coil." I can only assume that the wire from this condenser is supposed to go to the + side of coil. This is how I have always had this condenser hooked up like on my truck.

 

Putting two resistors in line (or in "series") results in the circuit having the sum of their resistances. Thus, two 1.5 ohm resistors in line generate the same resistance as a single 3 ohm resistor.

karlsd a/k/a "ksd"
69 F100 Explorer 360/C6