New plugs...new wires...old distributor cap, new petronix unit. I guess I should start, swap on wire, then the distributor cap.Could petronix cause issue? I am running off the original wire for the distributor. I have not checked it yest but I assume if I have 9 volts with ignition key at the on position that 9volts is not good...
It depends on the Pertronix instructions. Is that setup designed to run off the original resistance wire, or full battery voltage? Devon
make sure the wire is making a good connection. if it were me i would keep the wire attached and pull the plug cover back and cross a screwdriver to the head.
Did you connect a timing light to the plug wire and observe a flashing light with a stable pattern? Did you connect an ohmeter to the plug wire and confirm that it's good? "New" and "good" can be mutually exclusive.
On my 72 I had a crane XRi kit installed (like pertronix) and it required a resistance wire There are tests to see if you have resistance in the XRi instructions - http://www.cranecams.com/uploads/instructions/90001700c.pdf
I use to have the the xr-i and it ran off the resistance wire as well. I checked instruction for the petronix. " For installations that use a primary ballast resistor wire, connect the Ingitor red wire to the ignition switch side of the resistor." Uh?
Yes had a timing light on it it was irregular. ........miss.........miss......miss.....I will put the ohm meter on that wire.
That tells me the Ignitor (whatever that is) wants to see +12V battery voltage, bypassing the resistance. We need some folks who use your Pertronix setup to confirm. Devon
GM used a resistance wire built into the wiring harness instead of ballast resistor. You will need to run a new wire from either the ign terminal on the ignition switch to the coil or from any other open terminal on the wiring block on the firewall that gives 12v when the ignition is in the on position only to bypass the resistance wire.
That is what I thought. I hate sticking another wire through my firewall. Makes my engine bay look messy. Oh well. Do you think I will see a smoother idle once it is fed with 12 volts?
Which Pertronix unit is it-I,II,or III. You will typically need to run another 12V wire from the spare ign spot on the fuse block. 12v from ign-not resistor wire-to coil positive. Pertronix hooks up to coil-red wire pos, black neg. Make sure you have the old ground wire in the dist under the breaker plate(where the vac adv screws in)....if not you need to make one. Pertronix has a bunch of stuff under the tech section of the website but it's hard to find. I have the III and it works great. I'm assuming II uses 12v. Should say in the instructions. Good luck! Chris
Mmmm...good info on the breaker plate ground wire. Mine is off. I am also running an aftermarket coil. Check this link out. (I need to get to bed...have an early breakfast meeting tomorrow) http://home.teleport.com/~cosa/vap/tech/pert/pertxhome.htm
Mmmm....I just changed my distributor shaft with a used one, the end of mine was sheared. I will get the other stuff sorted out before I go there.
You need to check the resistance for your coil. The Pertronix needs low resistance coil-should spec it in instructions.
First off if the miss is only on one cylinder I wouldnt worry about the electronics as much as the mechanical part. If its mixing up the clyinders then it would be electrical
Agreed you must run another wire to the Petronix. Make sure that factory resistor wire goes to the coil. I hate having a loose wire under the hood as well. For what it's worth, I had the same exact problem with my Petronix- one cylinder was missing. It turned out that the previous owner had not set the air gap properly (probably because the distributor had a massive amount of float), and the magnet wheel was scraping the pickup. One of the magnets fell out and that cyl would not fire! I found the magnet sitting in the bottom of the distributor when I took it apart. Pretronix sent me a new magnet wheel. I rebuilt the distributor and shimmed the float out of it. Before I rebuilt it, the air gap was fine when it wasn't running, but under load, the distributor shaft was rising in the case and the rotor was grinding into the cap....not good to have a lot of end play in the distributor:spank: Try grabbing your rotor and pulling it up and pushing it down as you allow it to turn slightly left and right on the dist gear- if it moves up and down very much, it needs shims on the shaft. The first sign of trouble with my Petronix was having the clear plastic sealing ring de-bond from the magnet wheel. Good luck. ps- saw your oil press troubles. I run 10w40 and after driving hard in 100+ F temps it idles at 19-20 lbs. My new rocker shafts brought the pressure up maybe 5-6 lbs to 19-20 lbs at idle. But yours could be due to many different things. Your engine is providing you with a true test of character- I feel for you, man.:beer
RE running a new wire. Because I have an aftermarket coil they are made to run on 12 volts...so I should not need worry about getting the lower voltage to the coil. Probably better to have 12volts going to it. On the resistor wire. I was looking at the diagram. The pink wire looks relatively short and then connects to a yellow wire that goes to the starter. I want to cut my harness open from starter to distributor (just behind that alternator). Is it only the pink wire that creates resistance of is there a resistor wrapped up in the harness? Re the magnet ring. I will have another look, the minimum end of my clearance was really tight, so maybe I have a similar problem as you.
