kalli

Hi all,

wasn't writing for a long time ...

if you can't wait , read the last lines .... ;-)

I had a problem with Pertronix distributor I ordered. It was the "Pertronix Ignitor II HEI".
I installed the distributor, cables and new coil (as well pertronix). The car started up fine.
But as I was driving it the problems got worse from day to day. After a few days the engine would just cut out in idle.
Standing at a traffic light. engine stalls. it got worse from there that the engine would cut out temporariliy when the engine was under heavy load.
Basically when overtaking, or when releasing throttle after overtaking. Or going in high gear low rpm up a hill. it would cut out temporarily. I checked the wiring, i tried loads of different settings with the carb.
I tried advancing and retarding the ignition timing.
I felt that the problem got a bit better when I disconnected the vacuum advance (block the hose).
Then i realised that the vacuum advance was rattling. you could move it back and forth up and down slighlty. So I got rid of the cap and found a problem, which (thanks me to god) was actually causing it.

under the disc which is driven by the vac advance is a screw, which holds the vac advance in position. This screw was loose.
Attached to this screw is a cable that would lead ground(minus) to the ignitor module sitting on this disc. as the screw was loose this cable would loose contact temporarily, causing this. basically no contact->no spark.
bummer was that the screw was sitting directly under the advance disk. actually good, because you can't loose the screw, but bad as you can't tighten it.
It took me a good set of bent pliers, about 100 of my best curses and an hour time to get the screw proper into thread and tighten it (i'm not really a noob when it gets to tightening screws, but this was nearly impossible as I didn't find any way to get rid of the disc.

long story short: if you have one of those distris and the engine is cutting out or stalling under load, check if the vacuum advance is a bit loose. If it is, check for the screw.
I'm delighted I was able to solve it, but I'll definetly write to pertronix as well to check this in QA as:
- I couldn't go for our last cruise
- it nearly killed my engine (it fired into compression stroke while overtaking)
- it wrecked my head :-)

hope it helps anyone else. i'm convinced I was not the only one with this manufacturing fault.

Picture to follow later

Kalli

JMD

Oh man, that sucks, sometimes it is the the smallest of details that can ruin our day.... (in your case many days) [:@]

Itwrecked your head,,, not your engines head right????

kalli

nah. engine runs smooth now. but I was far away from home when it happened.
So I was praying the whole way back.

now that it's fixed i'm happy out. smooth, a bit more power, it revs higher (tried once. won't go there again :-). And what I never thought about:
it put down my gasmileage. I was running 170 miles with 32litres of petrol!!! 20miles per gallon ... yiehaaa

Kalli