Had to run to Home Depot yesterday. Pic as promised. Still stalling after it sits hot for a few minutes, but nowhere near as much.
Good for you! Ha......you thinkbit just needs more real fuel? Is it possible you just got a bad tank of gas at the station?
I think it needs real fuel. I’ll see how the next tank goes with non ethanol and a little race gas. I still haven’t put the right distributor back in it, so that may be the next step, along with going back to points. I also think my coil is the original.
Tim, pull your intake manifold and block the heat crossover ports in head. Sounds like it hard to start because intake is so hot fuel is boiled away.
It may come to that, Rich. As it is right now, I just put 10 gallons of non ethanol in it. The stalling is a lot less frequent, and it idles dead smooth at a low 600 rpm at stop lights. But non ethanol fuel isn’t very convenient as it’s a good drive south of me.
Agreed. Since sorting mine out, it's been great. Cold starts, hot starts... Are there better ignition setups out there? Absolutely but for my application and the desire to keep it looking stock, this is sufficient.
I would put old-school points back into the distributor to see if this changes the situation. At least then you could see of the Lectric Limited points conversion has any role in the problem. I see that Jim and others don't like them but I still run points in all of my old cars except for 1 (it has a MSD distributor which had corrosion issues). I've had ZERO issues with my points even in a car that runs 11s and has thousands of street miles. Now if your car was some high winding race car, I wouldn't run points but for a car like yours that is a driver with a stock engine, they are reliable and in the really rare case that they have an issue you can buy a set at an auto parts store and swap them out with a screw driver. Full disclosure, I do change my points periodically (I think the last set I swapped in my '67 was in 2008). I probably check the dwell every few years.
It's not that I don't like points.. it's that unless you have a completely stock engine, there are much better alternatives. Dwell adjustments are not that big a deal, but it sure sucks when your bs'ing with your buddy, and you accidentally leave the key on.. odds are, you just burned up the points. Points are also very dependent on a distributor with tight bushings, and they are rpm limited. The other issue is the quality of the points sets you can get these days. Standard Ignition Blue Streak individual points/condensor units have been the best on the market for decades. But the last set of those I put in, when compared to an older used set I had, are nothing like they used to be. Outsourced to China I would assume.. The much better alternatives are (in order of performance/reliability) and in a stock points distributor housing/cap assembly Mag pickup conversion- use to trigger an aftermarket CD ignition system. CD (multi-spark) ignitions improve starting and improve idle quality dramatically.. especially important as you increase engine performance via cam timing. Anything with a cam beyond 230* at .050 exhibits dramatic improvements and I consider a requirement. optic pickup/Hall effect conversion kit.. available from both Accel and Lectric limited. These systems are very reliable, as long as the operating voltage for the module is correct. Mag pickup/Hei conversions- the standard aftermarket HEI module is dwell limited above 5000 rpm, and as the years go by since these were used by the factory, the quality of the modules keeps dropping. Don't leave home without a module and the tools to replace it, in the trunk.. Magnet wheel conversion- The old pertronix type 1.. say what you want, I have customers who have used these with no issues for 20+ years.. Lobe sensing conversions... more problematic, but most issue have more to do with loose distributor bushings than actual unit failures. There are several different brands on the market. I generally avoid these. If you running a dead stock setup, then a good points set will work fine.. just don't burn 'em up.. and make sure your distributor is in tip top condition. JW
Unless I am missing something here, when Ray checked the voltage across his coil, with it warmed up and running, he has 9-10+ volts. That's too much. Should be around 7 volts. He either needs a higher impedance coil, or needs to add at .3 resistor inline with the primary wire, to drop that voltage down into the 6-8 volt range. Over voltage of the electronics is the most common cause of failures/stalling. My shop test cart provides 7.5 volts to the coil.. and that setup worked just fine here.. idle for a long time at 800 rpm. And it was on the dyno for extensive testing and never skipped a beat. JW
Jim, I always noted this caution in the Chassis Manuals, The test they recommend is with the engine stopped, points closed, measuring from the coil + to ground. Should read 5.0- 5.5 volts.
I understand the factory test parameters. However, my ignition is the LL conversion which doesn't have points. So, I believe I should disconnect the single wire to the coil - terminal the short that terminal to ground to simulate the points beings closed. Make sense?
I would unhook the - side of the coil, and run a wire from the - side of the coil to ground. That way, you are getting the ballast resistance, and the coil resistance.
Honestly Bob I feel much the same. I really like the Lectric unit, it seems well made, the tech guys were smart and helpful but how can the defined operational parameters require a coil you can’t buy? I sourced a new/old coil because I believe my original coil was failing under load. I feel like they need to solve this or stop selling it. The damn sure should put out a bulletin on the constraint.
Well that's a hoot because I was thinking the same thing, but then they wouldn't have a scapegoat for putting a sensitive, inferior electronic control module in a hot distributor, something the OE's learned the hard way decades ago, and that is heat is the number one enemy of ignition control modules..... Funny thing you should mention Pertronix. My view of them is forever cemented with one very bad experience on a stock 62 Grand Prix that no one could fix. The previous shop sent the entire converted distributor and coil back to Pertronix for a "factory check" because there was a severe hesitation/stumble when accelerating . "Checks ok" was the diagnosis, it must be something with the car. After MANY wasted hours, we uncovered that Petronix had sold him the wrong coil for the system he purchased to begin with. Their own coil! They missed that, TWICE, along with the distributor end play that was out to lunch. I wonder when I'll get my labor claim check, likely any year now.
