IGNITOR electronic ignition

[crow]

Hello All
Is anybody running the IGNITOR points convertion on their older Vette? , any feedback would be great
Thanks crow

 

[JohnZ]

Yes, they work great! No more fiddling with points and dwell, simple installation - just follow the directions.

 

[crow]

thanks John,
I will order one and let you know how it goes
crow

 

[gdh]

I would be interested as well, as was told by another C3 owner that he had to machine the Ignitor to work. It seems like a real cost effective system to get rid of points.

 

[1969D_Floyd]

I finally installed my Ignitor II over the 4th of July weekend. It was fairly easy. Honestly, I am not a mechanic at all. If you can use a screwdriver, wrachet set & read, you can do the install in less than 2 hours.

The only difference that I noticed was the more smooth firing of the engine - which is great. No noticeable horsepower boost.

I used the stock ignition coil. I am thinking of installing the Pertronix Flamethrower coil. I wonder if this will improve things even more?

 

[Eric]

I have the Ignitor II and the Flamethrower 45,000 volt coil. The difference over my old cruddy points was amazing. The throttle response was worth the price of admission. The only thing that gave me even the slightest problem was getting the old melted grommet out of the bottom of the distibutor housing. The entire installation took me about 45 minutes and it's a one person job.

Be sure to keep the points as a backup just in case though. Or you could always just but two Ignitors:L.

 

[wolf_walker]

Ignitor is good stuff, easier starts, crisper throttle, and no stinking points to fiddle with(and now my dwel meter collect dust )

Re-shim the distributer shaft while it's out, it will likely be loose.

 

[68corvette]

igniter

i installed the pertronics igniter and their coil. it's the only way to go. installation is simple and their are no adjustments you have to make. it's a direct bolt in. good luck!!!!!

 

[1969D_Floyd]

Question to the group... I disconnected the ballast resistor from the ignition system per the Pertronix instructions. I'll assume this won't cause any harm. Does anyone know for sure?

 

[JohnZ]

Read the directions again - you STILL NEED the ballast resistor to feed the coil (+) terminal; 12 volts continuous to the coil will fry it - they're designed to operate on 7-8 volts continuous, and full 12 volts (from the starter "R" terminal) only when cranking. The Pertronix module wants a full 12 volts, but your coil still needs the resistor-reduced voltage.

 

[Hijinx]

Actually, not really JohnZ. I put the Ignitor II on my '73 and as long as you replace the wire from the firewall with a standard (non-ballased) wire it works fine. I think 18 or 16 guage. I put a MSD Flamethrower coil on when I put the Ignitor II in and the setup is a snap. Works great.!

 

[Eric]

Actually, not really JohnZ. I put the Ignitor II on my '73 and as long as you replace the wire from the firewall with a standard (non-ballased) wire it works fine. I think 18 or 16 guage. I put a MSD Flamethrower coil on when I put the Ignitor II in and the setup is a snap. Works great.!

Ditto here, no ballast in my system either. I, too, have a 45k coil.

- Eric

 

[wolf_walker]

Dunno about the stock coil, but any aftermarket coil will want a full 12, which is the reason for pulling the ballist resistor. Trouble comes when, like the 74, you have the resister in the harness where you can't find it (way to go GM), and it's a pain to find an ignition switched power source that does not cut out while in the start position. I posted about my adventure with this awhile ago, unless I missed something obvious, running that one wire was the hardest part of the whole deal.

 

[gdh]

Where is the best place to buy the combo of Ignitor II and the Flame Thrower?

 

[wolf_walker]

Got mine from Summit Racing, there pretty good to deal with..

 

[Hijinx]

Yea, go Summit, you'll get the best deal on it. Go ahead and get the better coil, it really needs it. It is not that hard to replace the stock ballast wire. All you have to do is pull the wiring harness connector off the firewall. Put one lead of a tester on the black coil lead and set it to continuity or tone. Then use the other lead on the back side of the firewall connector to find the right lead. You can ge those firewall block connectors from most NAPA auto parts stores. The connector in the firewall block is a lap over design. If you take a pair of needle nose pliers you can gently squeeze the sides in while pulling on the wire. It should come lose fairly easily. Then you just run a new wire, put the new connector on, slip it into the original place on the firewall block and your done. Really not a tough job.

 

[wolf_walker]

hijinx, that sounds like a nice way to do it, there's some reason I looked at the bulkhead connector underhood and decided I'd rather be beat than try and get at it, can't remember why. Other than the obvious fact that I'd have a dozen shorts from almost three decade old wire insulation cracked after moveing it, just my luck. Good info though.

 

[Hijinx]

Actually, I checked my wires out and around the firewall connector they were in good shape. Nearer the engine they were brittle, but that was far enough away that the heat had not hurt them.

That said, I will still tell you that I hate the harness in my '73. Its a mess. Its all factory, but they did a poor job. I really want to get a custom engine compartment harness to clean things up. My firewall looks like a spiders web. I hate it, but will wait till I do something like pulling the engine to tackle that job!

 

[wolf_walker]

I had that opinion on the wiring also, good canidate for a custom job, I've done enough german stuff I think I could manage a little old domestic non-efi job..

 

[Rowdy1]

Major Problem

Read the directions again - you STILL NEED the ballast resistor to feed the coil (+) terminal; 12 volts continuous to the coil will fry it - they're designed to operate on 7-8 volts continuous, and full 12 volts (from the starter "R" terminal) only when cranking. The Pertronix module wants a full 12 volts, but your coil still needs the resistor-reduced voltage.

IS this with ALL coils? I'm having a REAL nasty time figuring out why my car loses spark and then it returns again. I rewired my 62 this winter, EVERYTHING is new, I had a complete MSD ignition system for two years with no problems prior to removing the ballast resistor when I rewired it. Now I'm driving along and it shuts off with no spark. I have replaced the magnetic pickup, had the MSD 6AL box rebuilt and put a new MSD Blaster2 coil in it a week ago. Exactly a week later, it shut off on me twice but is now running again. My question is, no matter what coil or box I'm using, you're saying I have to run a ballast resister? It's driving me absolutely CRAZY (and a friend that's VERY GOOD with electricity) ad