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My donor car was a 1974 Mustang 4 cyl and it has points and a condenser in the distributer. Today I purchased a Pertronix Ignition system part number 1243A. It?ll be a couple of weeks before it will be installed but should be interesting to see if it?s much of an advantage. I really don?t think there is anything wrong with my points but electronic ignition was a giant leap forward after the 1974 Mustang was built from a dependability standpoint.
Rob,
My 1974 V6 has electronic ignition, although according to the manuals, it was not available until 1975. Mine is a KEM unit. Not sure if it is OEM or not. Supposedly, the big advantage (other than no more burned out points) was a hotter spark that improved performance using today’s (crappy) low octane gas. No problems with mine so far.
Rich
Rob ; I have put electronic ign. on cars they are better , just not to mess with the points!! if you want A little more power
change the heads to the 8 plug type you can find in junk yards standard on 92 up Mustang 4 cylender that did give some more power, Fords have a lot of after market race parts as well as factory parts . It is sad GM has nothing for my chevette 1.4 outher than Vauxhall out of England . and then only used I can’t find new!!…………….Dan R Dan R40024.7287384259Rob
If you want to get all the advantages of electronic ignition with the pertronix you can add a stock Duraspark module, or an MSD, or both to get the max spark obtainable. Takes just a little wiring under the hood. Well worth the effort since the pertronix unit by itself doesn’t increase the spark that much but does do away with point problems.
I’ve got several links that show the wiring and the advantages of adding a module. Let me know if you’re interested.
Ringo
Ringo40024.7893171296
Gang
Man, I HATE it when my links are no longer active. The sites with the duraspark upgrade are still there, but talk about the need for a duraspark distributor. If there is 3 wires now coming out of the dissy then the duraspark is addable without a new dissy. The MSD site still has wiring hookup diagram for the pertronix and in fact the MSD module will do the same as the Duraspark module, maybe even better. I’ll check my paper backup file and can scan it in if I find it. Otherwise, the MSD with Pertronix site is still up.
I’m signing off now to go make paper copies of my other links that I depend on before they go bye-bye.
This is a good reminder to be sure to support this site so it doesn’t fade into the sunset!
Ringo
Ringo, I saw some of those sites about the duraspark and I’m sure that’s a solution. For those unaware duraspark was Fords anwser to the old point and condenser issue. Apparently you can go to a salvage yard and get what you need. I saw the Pertronix as more of a turn key solution ie take out the points, bolt the new module in and splice some wires and presto. Well that’s the plan anyway 🙂
I’m not really looking for much more performance out of this thing but looking for something that may start a little better and knowing that I won’t have to worry or mess with points.
Having just finished my car, (I have the Duraspark system) and being an old school kind of guy, I just could NOT get my car started with that darned ecm unit. I finally found THE go-to guy in the area and he started my car within twenty minutes. I just hate it when that happens!
The key is the two wires coming out od the Duraspark, Red and white, the white is on the outside leaving the module, but they are reversed in That in the D shaped plug they attach to! the WHITE wire from the D shaped plug goes to the ignition switch, the red is not used on my car and it runs just fine.
Greg
BTW… PITA (Pain in the As….) is what old cars can be.
The dual plug cylinder head was not a performance item, it was designed that way for emission purposes.
Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"Completed the Pertronix installation this weekend and it is a huge upgrade to my 1974 Mustang 2.3 liter engine. It was a little more effort and expense then I originally expected but working on these cars is a learning experience. I had to add the Flame-Thrower 40,000 Volt Canister Coils as my coil didn?t seem to be compatible with the Petronix ignitor. And then I had to delete the ballast resistor which I believe was original to the 74 mustang. So after a little rewire effort it still wouldn?t start even after I was confident all the wires were done correctly.
The issue was the distributor rotor was spinning on the distributor shaft. I pushed the rotor down as far as it would go but the Ignitor part that fits around the distributor shaft was interfering with the rotors full engagement on the shaft. I corrected this by filling the bottom of the rotor, taking off maybe 3/16 of an inch. She then started right up. I adjusted the timing a little and was off to the races.
Rob is a happy camper, new convertible top is next on the to-do list. The original one is a little old and low for my taste. This new one will have the bar over my head approx 2? higher. I?ll create a new thread for the top effort as details unfold.
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