74ZZ430

I'm going to install a Pertronics Ignitor II electronic ignition conversion, which requires 12 volts at the positive side of the coil. The factory setup only delivers about 6.5 volts in the run position .Two wires (one black with the word resistance on it and a wire with a white insulation covering it) tie together with a common clip at the +coil terminal. My question is do I leave these wires attached to the + terminal once I connect a 12 volt source to the same terminal, or disconnect the factory wires. I know one of the factory wire provides a full 12 volts to the coil during starting and then switches back to the lower voltage wire when the starter circuit is no longer in use, but does this connection provide power to anything thing else. Also I noticed the black resistance wire becomes warm within a minute of turning the ignition switch to the run position, is this normal.
Thank You:

mrvette

the wire being hot is NOT normal, the current drain is much higher obviously, and so the voltage under those conditions is not so high,...you may find it even shorted.....allmost makes me wonder if the ignition is ok, but if it's new, let's assume it is....so ....you need to get to the PINK wire, heavy gauge under the dash...the one coming off the steering wheel ignition switch, up top where you have to be a female monkey to get to it...good luck....get a heavy wire from that pink wire to the coil directly, same as if it was an HEI....

GENE

vettfixr

74ZZ430
I have a 74 and I get a little over 10 volts from the resistance wire. I think something may be wrong with your lead to the distributor. 6.5 volts seems awful low and would probably cut your voltage to the sparkplugs in half. I have a Pertronix on my car and I just left the wiring the way it was stock. Runs great and haven't had a problem since I installed it 3 or 4 years ago. You may have a bad resistance wire.

GaryS

The GM Service Manual for my car has an ignition section and I know that when I was troubleshooting the system I came across a value of "approximately 8 volts". The 6.5 volts that you have may be a bit low but how does your run?

Gary

74ZZ430

The 6.5 volt reading I got was with the engine off, I would think it would be a little higher with the engine running since the alt. would be charging at 13 to 14 volts rather than pulling off the battery voltage.The car runs strong to about 5500 rpms where it falls on it face, the rpm can be raised by changing the dwell but it seems to hurt the low end power.The motor is a copy of a ZZ430 except I tryed to make it appear stock, factory valve covers, a cast iron vortec manifold and factory dist. The plugs that come in a ZZ430 call for a .045 gap, so I want to go to electronic ignition to be able to safely run the .045 gap, I set them to .040 with the stock iginition. I did rebuild the dist. and set the endplay to .007. My main question was whether I should disconect the factory voltage supply wires,when I run the new 12 volt feed. Pertronixs said a full 12 volts would provide the best performance. After further reveiw I see no reason to leave the factory wires connected.If anyone knows why I should please let me know.
Thanks for the help