Getting ready to hook up my Pertronix in my 67. Instructions say to hook up only black wire to coil if you have a resistor wire going to coil. I thought all points type ignition had the resistor but I cannot find the resistor in the original wiring harness. My 69 GTO Ragtop has it mounted near the firewall. Does the 67 have the resistor?
maybe-maybe not years ago i worked in a wrecking yard,rebuilding starters.we would go out & pull the units off the cars as they came in.the only cars i noticed the resistor wire on were pontiac & olds big blocks.i used to have a 67 GS 400 that did not have one.:Smarty: THIS IS ONLY MY OPINION,and this was 20 yrs ago so take it with a grain of salt:TU:
The wire from the ignition to the coil is probably a resistor type - this helps standard points last longer. You will be happier with your Pertronix if you replace it with a nice 16 gage stranded copper wire. Also make sure that the flexible ground wire between the point plate and the distributor is intact - it is important even when you run both red and black wires from the Pertronix unit to the coil.
pertronix wiring I had the same concern about the resistive wire on my '71 Then I noticed that the Pertronix operating voltage goes from 8volts to 16 volts. I'm no sure if this will effect the coil output, however, I plan on calling Pertronix to find out. I'll post what I find. Matt
follow-up to previous thread I called Pertronix today and the guy say's that it depends upon the coil that you're using whether or not to run a non resistive wire. He said that if you are running their coil (Flame Thrower) than you will definitely get a "fatter" spark and and that the coil will work more efficiently with a higher voltage. Also the coil will deliver 40,000 volts with or without the resistive wire, but, will be more consistant in higher RPM levels, as, the coil will have more "build-up" of energy during the reduced dwell time at high RPM's. I came away from the conversation thinking that I'll be switching the wire in my car to a non-resistive wire. The reason why he would only recommend non resistive wire for their coil is that according to him, most of their customers don't replace the coil when they put the conversion in their cars. Hope this answers some questions. Matt
Ok, I just had the Pertronix installed in my car. Its the LSC model. AS per instructions, red to pos and black to - on the coil. Well it takes forever to crank, even waiting the 3-5 seconds. So I called Pertronix and the guy said (very personable btw) to try 10-11 seconds. Voila-it cranks just about right away. He said that the Buick had a resistor wire-I look cant find any resistor. He said that I should hook the red wire directly to a 12V ignition source. No problem I will do. So I am assuming the wire coming from the ignition to the coil now must be a resistor wire. Could I not replace that instead of running a separte lead? If I do- since I am not into wiring, if I follow this through the harness I assume it will end up some place behind the fuse panel. If I splice it at the fire wall where it goes in, will that suffice or basically dont mess with the factory harness, leave that connected to coil and run a new lead like he said. TIA for your replies.
After running the original Pertronix in my 73 Trans Am for years I just installed one in my new 68 Riviera. The resistor wire I found started at the middle of the RH valve cover in the wire harness and ran back to the main harness connector at the firewall. You can identify it by the woven cloth covering on the wire. I just spliced in a new wire at the firewall connector and ran that to the Pertronix red wire and left the stock coil connected to the resistor wire. Seems to work great. The resistor wire supplies about 5-6 volts to the coil when running and 12 volts on cranking. If I go to a Pertronix coil I can just hook up the coil to the new wire. While the LSC module is easier to install I always hated the wait time so I chose the original version. Anyone know if a stock type coil will last if I run 12 volts to it all the time? Keith
Keith, since I have the Pertronix coil, are you're saying that I can just splice into the resistor wire at the fire wall and just take that to the coil. (basically cutting out the existing wire that goes to coil from fire wall) and then I will have my Ignitor wire going to the coil also as per the instructions??
lsc ignitor..... Guys, Take my advice.... When going to the ignitor setup, ALWAYS use the type 1, (the magnetic one). I delt with this last year, did everything but pee on a spark plug, and could not get it to start without "waiting". I don't like to wait..... The type 1 works perfectly! JW
Bill, Matt posted in a previous reply that in his conversation with the folks at Pertronix that you can run the Pertronix coil on 12 volts all the time and get a fatter spark, so just splice a wire onto your existing coil feed wire at the firewall and hook it to the coil +. Then hook the red module wire to the coil + as well and your done! Don't forget to insulate the old coil wire and fold it back into the harness if you leave it connected to power. Keith
petronix resistor wire Bill it is easy to identify the reisitor wire as it looks braded and it is either bronze or brown colored. if you take a look at your wiring at the coil you should see 2 wires on the positive side one goes to the ignition side of the starter selenoid. the other wire should be in your wiring harness and follows all the way the the fire wall connector by the brake master cylinder. the resistor wire connects into this block. you can go to your local napa and buy these connectors. or you can reuse the connector if careful. you can splice it if you want or you can just run a new line "less mess" just my opinion. as for the wire from the starter you can remove it. the resistor wire did not allow much voltage during startup therefore the starter added the ignition by sending a 12volt charge after the motor was started the ignition resumed the 9volts through the resistor wire. now that the system will be converted to a 12 volt system the wire from the starter is not needed. IT works used my petronix on a driver for a year and a half. gotta love the lack of adjusting the dwell every other month. sorry so long winded.
I am probably going to take this off and go with the standard ignitor. I dont have the patience to wait for it to "energize". SO if I do take off and go with the regular ignitor must I still do this?? Phil, I only have 1 wire going to the coil on the plus side(its brown) the other wire is red coming from the ignitor. I am missing something or what, this is the way I bought the car a few yrs back and never had any trbl starting. Maybe it was taken off back then??
It sounds as if it has already been spliced in. the wire that comes from the starter was yellow "don't quote me" but if it was stock it would have had this for the 12 volt startup. as for the wait on start up i never had a problem with a wait and mine is the older type petronix. double check that wire to see if it is not braided. 12 volts makes a world of diffrence on startup. p.s. bill that dashpad i got for you looks great. ebay
Phil, glad you liked the pad. Hey, I am color blind and was going from memory:Brow: anyway, the brown wire is on the neg which is my tack. I have a pink wire on the positive which I just traced back to a splice with a yellow wire, and then I lost it in the harness(didnt unwrap all the way-it started to rain) so I went to firewall and only braided wire I see is a red one. This is getting interesting, Phil this is the LSC model where you have to wait 3-5 secs bef startup--I have to wait 10-12, I just may end up going to the original type ignitor. I did find a 12v lead with a female plug on it wrapped up in the harness, I have no idea what that is for, so I jerry rigged it into the ignitor and still had to wait 10 seconds--Isnt life grand:stmad:
bill It is a braided wire it appeared brown or copper to me it may be red. I have a red green color blindness. i would definetly trace and see how far it goes. I do not like spliced or loose connections. but thats me. remember that there is resistence in that wire even if it is spliced the wire just gets hotter in that short section compared to heat disipation throughout the full length original resistor wire. just a thought.
The wire should be a tanish color, an off-white maybe and is of a cloth type material. It runs from the fusebox (engine side) to about 3inch from front of block in the harness wherre it's split to a red/pink wire (coil) and yellow (starter) using a metal clip thing. What I did because I didn't wanna fuss with the powerbooster is get some 16-18gauge wire and a package of tap-in connectors. Start one end of the tap as close to the firewall box as you can, I ened up about 2-3inches out. Route wire thru harness, and end the tap about a half inch from the metal clip. If you fray the resistor wire, use electrical tape. After 30+ years it frays easy. Now you have a setup that gives 12v constant but leaves the stock setup incase you ever go back to points or have a ignitor breakdown and have to toss points in to get around while ya wait for replacement. Cheers! Scott
Well after I get my other "little headaches" done this weekend--have to try to get the proportioning valve moved away from my headers. My plugs are fouling like crazy since carb rebuild, etc etc When I get that done I guess I will look into the wiring harness more and find that wire. Thanks guys for all your help. I might be coming back for more questions:Comp:
i have a pertronix in my olds engine in a 76 cutlass and the recommended a 1.5 ohm ballast resistor anyone else here about doing that didnt know about wait time will try it and see if it starts better. Am waiting to pull a 350 out of a 78 buick to put in my 84 cutlass with a 231 how well does the late model 350 respond to performance mods
bid doug, dont know about your 1.5 ohm resistor, but the wait time is only for the LSC version. I since (last weekend) put in the original type Pertronix, now this baby kicks right over and she does it strong!! very impressed with it. I just didnt have the patience to wait for it to energize or whatever. My mentallity is that I have a gas engine not a diesel(waiting for glow plugs). HTH
