I'm thinking of going with a breakerless ignition system for my distributor. I want to use one of the kits that keeps the distributor stock.

Pertronix, Accel, Crane, Mallory and others, make this system. Is there an advantage of one over the rest? Have you had any problems with yours?

thanks - Mark

 

Top of the heap is "Breakerless SE" ... at www.lectriclimited.com ... next is probably Crane XRi. However, a distributor in good shape, with good points-condenser, properly setup ... is hard to beat.

 

I went with a HEI dist. with a high output coil.

 

I would probably recommend the Mallory after the Crane that was suggested above; I've had good success with Mallory distributors.

 

I had a Petronix system a few years back and it failed on me, would have been a real pain in the butt except I had my old points wrapped up and stored in the jack compartment as a backup. I just installed a Crane XR3000, but it definitely doesn't look stock, although I was tempted by the xri module.

 

I had a Pertronix that I ran for a couple of years. It ran OK until one day when the engine started cutting out at highway speed. I replaced it with a Crane XR1 and its run well for about 3+ years now. The Crane is easier to install because it reads off the distributor cam lobe. You basically just screw it in to the distributor top and connect the two wires to each side of the coil. With the Pertronix you have to take apart the distributor if you have too much play in it and make sure the clearance between the pickup and the magnetic ring is set right. You also get a rev limiter in the Crane XR! which is kinda nice if you like to spin the engine up.

 

NOT Pertronix...

GM HEI, with an MSD upgrade.

 

please keep in mind if you want to consider an electronic conversion kit over points that there is no performance improvement.

If your points distributor is in good operating condition, is in correct tolerances without excess shaft end and / or side play, your points are fresh hi-tension points and have a good cap than a points distributor is very reliable (more reliable than any electronic conversion kit) and will perform very well.

IF your distributor is out of tolerances with excess shaft play than your dwell will vary causing timing to flucuate and causes lack of performance and idle quality. If that's the case than an electronic conversion kit will "mask" the problem since there is no dwell to worry about on eectronic conversion kits but it still doesn't solve the issue of you running a distributor that needs to be rebuilt although you very well may see a bit of increase in performance simply because of the masking affectt of the kit because it eliminates the dwell problem.
Rather than spending almost $200 on an electronic conversion kit like the Pertronix, Breakerless SE, etc, you would be better off and spend less money to rebuild your distibutor to correct tolerances and good operating condition and retain your points.

Since I had the distributor in my '65 rebuilt and put in correct hi-tension points (28-32oz) I can easily spin that motor to well past redline and she runs great with no points float and keeps pulling strong at 7500rpm.

If you are considering the electronic conversion hoping for a performance increase than i'd offer two alternative suggestions. ** note! neither of these two alternatives is an electronic conversion kit!;

1. keep the points (again also first making sure the distributor is in good operating condition and within tolerance specs) and adding a performance type coil set-up such as the MSD hi voltage coils.

2. swap out to a mechanical tach drive HEI distributor. This can be done using the stock GM type built in coil or with the addition of a seperate hi-performance ignition coil box such as from MSD

both of the alternatives listed will increase the voltage to the sparks offering somewhat increased performance although unless you have other mods on your motor I question how much performance increase you will really gain in terms of actual real-life feel while driving.

my first suggestion is still to make sure your points distributor is is correct specs and operating correctly and making sure you have good quality hi-tension points. If you do this with your stock motor that factory points distributor is a hard to beat and will be very reliable and run strong. The only thing you need to do after that is once a year check and re-set dwell and replace to fresh points - a job that will cost you about $12 - $15 (for new points and condenser) and 10 minutes work.
You can go a LOT of years at only $12/yr to replace the points before you come close to the cost of the electronic conversion kits such as Pertronix, etc AND it will be more reliable of a system.

 

plain truth & well said Barry

 

I cannot over state how much of an improvement there was rebuilding my distributor. My end play was .045 whereas the spec is .007. Imagine how much my rotor and dwell were bouncing around!!!

But, the OP was asking what brand to go with versus if it should be done. I did some research into this (I'm no expert by any stretch) but decided if I was going to do it it was going to the breakerless SE kit from www.lectricunlimited.com

Jim

 

Jim,
Did you do the rebuild yourself or have it done?
If you did it...where did you get the shims, etc?

 

So, to make a pun." HEI is pointless"

 

Any speed shop would have the shims.

 

I see I have indoctrinated Barry well...
I highly recommend not switching to an electronic conversion. Rebuild the distributor to take the slop out of it. Install a good set of points, such as the NAPA CS786 and a correctly matched vacuum advance control unit. This setup will outrun any e-conversion. If you want a performance edge, run the stock points with an MSD-6AL setup. This will outperfrom anything on the market.

 

Gentleman, I have been around racing for the better part of my life (Busch and IMCA Dirt Late Models)

If a points distributor outperformed everything on the market then we wouldn't have electronic ignitions in new cars... or magnetos in race cars...

Dual point distributors / points distributors are dated technology and have been for quite a while.

may work well, and satisfactorily, but to say they outperform everything on the market is just not true.

 

I converted to Crane about a year and half ago and have been happy. I did this on a whim because it sounded good on paper and I convinced myself that I would no longer have to adjust the points. That being said, I can see no performance improvement. I also realized that I haven't touched the points in my '72 Landcruiser in over 5 years and it has run just fine. Granted, I only use it for snow plowing.

I was also severely reprimanded by Lars for this heresy while he was solving my carb problem. As I recall, he may have withheld a beer from my ration in the Viking Garage as punishment. I'd never want to risk this again.

 

I converted to a mallory electronic from an accel dual point distributor after replacing points every 12 months. Every time I replaced points I noticed a performance improvement. I noticed a performance improvement the day I put in my mallory electronic distributor and haven't had to open it up since.

No maintenance required
smooth idle
no degradation from points wearing out

10 years and going strong as the day I put it in.

 

I've had this setup in mine for three years without a problem. Easy to install and uses the existing one-wire, so you can't tell what is under the cap.

 

I've had the pertronix ignitor for two years no problems.........yet.

 

I did it myself. I used Moroso shims from Jeg's. The Moroso shims are a smaller outside diameter but the inside diameters the same. They work.

Jim