Electronic ignition

V

Viroid

Junior Member
I am considering changing the ignition on my 52 Victoria to an electronic system. I am curious if those that have tried it find it to be a worthwhile upgrade. I have always felt that the ignition on the flat heads to be shakey, at best, I would hope that this will make it foolproof.
Thanks.
 
Go ahead and do it. No more points to fiddle with.
You will never regret it. Your stock distributor has a vacuum advance so check with Bubba' Ignition t find out which electronic ignition would be best for you.
 
It's like everyting else ,If they work there great. When they don't there junk. I have a Mallory breakerless from speedway mtrs, on my 48. The module went out of it within a few months. That's ben 20 years ago. Haven;t had any trouble sense. My car ran a lot sharper the minute I pot it in. Could have ben the old dist. wasn't right I would do it again Be sure and use the surge box or what ever they call it.
 
Yes, the surge protector is a must. In case of a voltage spike it protects your distributor's
electronics parts.
 
Jim & 48cpe. What surge protector are you guys talking about?
I've never heard of this before, nor used one?
Thanks
Jim
 
It's a little box about 2 by 2 in. wires [ I think ] connects in series from the hot wire to the ignition hot wire It s kind of like a resister . It just absorbs the spike in voltage from the gen. or alternator I think that is why I lost the first module I didn't have one on
 
You have 2 things to fight.
1. Voltage spikes that go higher then the ignition can handle.
This is solved by installing a metal oxide varistor between power in and ground.
The mov is passive until the clamping voltage is reached.
Select clamping voltage to fit aplication 6/12v.
2. Stray frequencys.
Noise coming from ignition and generators.
A choke coil lets DC current pass and filters away AC frequencys.
Noise filters for car audio is cheap ;)
 
tubman said:
Bubba,

It says this is compatible with their "Unilite" distributors. Can it be used in other applications? Do you know the "pin-outs" on it?
Click to expand...

That i dont know as a rule we dont use them but i have customers that do.
I think it is needed on any electronic unit especially if you are using a generator etc. Many generators produce some really nasty looking voltage.
A clean rebuild generator with a good quality voltage regulator might not need one at all.....
 
I have a Pertronix unit along w/their coil in my 8BA , and as Bubba says a "clean rebuilt generator and a good , quality voltage regulator ". No problems after 2 yrs. , so far .
 
Also change to a higher voltage output coil so you can run a larger plug gap which will improve mileage and performance. Just make sure you have good plug wires.
 
Ford Freak said:
How much more plug gap ? What is safe ?
Click to expand...

i DONT AGREE WITH THE LARGER PLUG GAP ON THE FLATHEADS!

Plug gap goes with the engine (not the ignition system) a low compression flathead doesnt really benefit from a wider gap. The advent of the wider gaps came with leaner air fuel mixture and emission standards.
I guess if the flathead was lean then a wider gap might help try to ignite the air fuel mixture.
However the wider gap requires that the coil put out extra voltage . Extra voltage can be hard on the plastics used in these old ignitions.
 
When Richard was doing all his ignition testing, he tried numerous plug gap settings and as Bubba says the stock works best. Especially on a low compression engine like a flathead. Max plug voltage id quite low 8-10 K on a 8.5CR.
 
When I first got my crab style electronic distributor, I opened the plug gap to .040. I continually had trouble with the caps cracking or carbon tracking. Went back to .025 gap. The engine still runs great and haven't had a cap problem in years
 
Can one of you smart guys confirm/deny my thought process:
I've always thought that the Battery was the "cushion" in the system.
In that you charge the battery and all attending connections come
from a point from the battery? No?
Maybe Jseery can explain it better?
I have been running Pertronix modules for more than 25 years, using
solid core Packard 440 wires and alternators. No troubles, and no cushioning device
Jim
 
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