Electronic Ignition Opinions Needed

Interesting post, and good timing (pardon the pun!) since I am considering which way to go myself. I currently have the original style points in my A, which until recently have worked fine-nothing wrong except that it's time to replace them. I did notice that, by design, or perhaps by quality, the points do not seem like they always line up with each other one hundred percent. I have considered "modern" points and also the FS and Pertronix set ups. Not sure which way to go yet. I have had a pertronix in my old Beetle for over ten years and 100,000 miles with zero issues, so that is tempting. While I appreciate things being correct, my concern is more on reliability and driveability. I recently changed to an alternator after the cut out helped to leave me with a dead battery, and yes, its not correct, or as "Henry intended", but the increased reliability and the brighter lights were worth that to me. Besides, if everyone was so concerned with what Henry intended, lets see more people out there using their A's every single day, year round!
 
I installed a Remund unit (before FSI) because I was tired of adjusting the points on my coupe every time I wanted to take a weekend drive. It's performed flawlessly for me, but it does have some of its own idiosyncrasies that take some experience to get used to. (1) You can't use the original popout switch, (2) it is sensitive to voltage drops so a weak battery might not fire you off. I've not had a Remund or Pertronix module go bad, but when I had a Mallory Unilite in my Red Ram I got tired of burned modules and was ready to try the original dual point distributor, when somebody told me Pertronix makes a module for the Mallory dist. Installed one, it runs great, never looked back.
Fearless
 
Tom Foster said:
I installed a Remund unit (before FSI) because I was tired of adjusting the points on my coupe every time I wanted to take a weekend drive. It's performed flawlessly for me, but it does have some of its own idiosyncrasies that take some experience to get used to. (1) You can't use the original popout switch, (2) it is sensitive to voltage drops so a weak battery might not fire you off. I've not had a Remund or Pertronix module go bad, but when I had a Mallory Unilite in my Red Ram I got tired of burned modules and was ready to try the original dual point distributor, when somebody told me Pertronix makes a module for the Mallory dist. Installed one, it runs great, never looked back.
Fearless
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You can use an original pop out switch. You have to take it apart, and insulate the ground with a piece of plastic and then put it back together I have 25,000 miles on my pop out switch that way.
 
jerry shook said:
If points when set up right are as good or even better by some people belief , why don"t they put them in our new cars ? They would have to be cheaper and more reliable then electronic. Just wondering.
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The disadvantage of the mechanical system is the use of breaker points to interrupt the low-voltage high-current through the primary winding of the coil; the points are subject to mechanical wear where they ride the cam to open and shut, as well as oxidation and burning at the contact surfaces from the constant sparking. They require regular adjustment to compensate for wear, and the opening of the contact breakers, which is responsible for spark timing, is subject to mechanical variations.

In addition, the spark voltage is also dependent on contact effectiveness, and poor sparking can lead to lower engine efficiency. A mechanical contact breaker system cannot control an average ignition current of more than about 3 A while still giving a reasonable service life, and this may limit the power of the spark and ultimate engine speed. However, a good point system maintained in good condition by the owner of a Model A Ford would serve his needs well or equal to one using an "electronic" ignition system. The only advantage I see is the latter type needing no adjustment or maintenance for many more miles. Parts availability and cost are also a plus to me using the original ignition system used by Ford.
 
Off the subject a little. Back in 62 I had a 1959 Fuel Injected Corvette. It was the high HP with 11-1 compression.
In town driving it was hard to keep the plugs clean. If you spent to many miles at low speed it would start missing at high rpms. So I got this "electronic" ignition for it. It still used the points but had a electronic module and a high out put coil. That solved my problem.

Then one day my wife and I were about a hundred miles from home with out much money. The car quits. Called a garage they checked it out and said they could not fix it until Monday. This was Saturday. With no money for a Motel what do you do. So I took the condenser that was on the + side of the coil for the radio, and put it on the point side. Unhooked the module and drove it home. The points were burned bad because of the high out put coil, but it got us home.

After that I used J18Y plugs that fixed all my problems. No more add on electronics for me. Ya I know they are much better to day.
 
Similar to George, I installed a transistorized ignition in my 55 Chevy back in 1965. It was only on for 5 days when it quit working on my way to work one morning. I switched it back to stock points and no more problems.
 
I just installed a Pertronix in my 29. My experience with Pertronix was and still is field testing two billet distributors in a boat. 2nd season and the 30 footer runs fantastic. Boat engines must operate at 75 to 80 percent load. It really tests an electronic ignition system. I am looking forward to continued reliability of the unit in my A
 
Modern cars have a different kind of reliability than the A, they go a long time, but when they break they don't get fixed along side of the road, and usually they don't give any warning, they die and you sit waiting on the tow truck, the stock model A has a different kind of reliability, usually you have warning, it doesn't run quite right for a while, and then if you don't heed the warning it stops---a little fiddling with it and you are on the road again(most likely in much less time than it takes to wait for the tow truck), when you try to combine modern with old there is a good chance you get an old car you have to tow home when it breaks

the modern car I drive doesn't have points, will stay running with a dead battery even if the alternator quits, can be push started even though it's automatic, it's got a computer but doesn't need it to run, and it's not very picky about what it has for fuel--once I accidentally poured 1/2 gal of pure antifreeze in the tank, tried to drain it the next day, it was gone, must have burned it ---I consider my near stock A to be just as reliable
 
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BRENT in 10-uh-C said:
As a dealer for FS ignitions, I can tell you that it is a quality product, ...now, however I have seen quite a few failures over the years and I have warrantied many more than I can count. In other words, when they worked, folks were happy but when they failed, folks were stressed and unhappy!!

For several years we actually installed them in almost every car that went out of the shop. The reason I stopped is in my view, the reward was not worth the chance. By this I am suggesting the power advantage used to be there when no one was manufacturing good quality distributor cams or points. The benefit when those were not available definitely put an advantage towards the electronics however now it is different. Therefore the risk involved in accidentally leaving an ignition switch on to cause a module failure, or the expense of the unit vs. the good quality points, cam, and condenser, ...or the time necessary to make repairs/changeout after a failure is just not worth the effort/expense on 90% of typical Model-A applications IMHO.
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Brent ,
Very good answer !!! :eek:

Bubba
 
have them in 3 cars and have never had a problem. The only ones I've seen fail have been from user error or incorrect set up. I have 30,000 miles on the one in my car and it's never missed a beat. Personally it's something I never have to worry about failing. And if for some reason it does, I have an extra sitting in the trunk.
 
Charlville said:
Mine runs really well on FS/Ignitor, do modern cars use points? :)
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This is following an old post but no, they don't run either. Even my 'older' cars run coil packs for each cylinder controlled by the ECU with no 'igniter'. I think that your 'latest and greatest' technology had about a ten year life span with most manufacturers.

Does this make everyone feel safer?
 
I put transistorized ignition on my 55 Chevy back in 1965, and it left me dead in the road 5 days later. In the late 70's I put pointless electronic ignition in my 71 Scout and it only lasted a couple weeks. Points work fine for me.
 
I put a pertronix with the super hot coil on my '41 Packard. The car started much better than with the points system. Just be aware that a 6 volt pertronix has a voltage threshold of 4 1/2 volts. I was loosing voltage through the ignition switch, so I ran a wire directly from the battery to insure 6 volts. If you do this, put a switch between the battery and the coil. John
 
Jordan said:
have them in 3 cars and have never had a problem. The only ones I've seen fail have been from user error or incorrect set up. I have 30,000 miles on the one in my car and it's never missed a beat. Personally it's something I never have to worry about failing. And if for some reason it does, I have an extra sitting in the trunk.
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Actually that is probably not the case in many applications. Mine was installed properly, and user error did not come into play. Mine worked for 1,000's of miles and then blew and left me on the side of the road. Interesting though, you say you never have to worry about it failing, but you carry an extra in the trunk.
 
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