Can someone explain to me exactly what the pros and cons are of each? or point me to an article that explains it?

I hear all these people talking about going with electric distributors, does it make the car start right away without having to pump the pedal? I am not sure what the benefits are.

Thanks

 

It's not going to make your car start right away like EFI would. It's still a carb. The electronic ignition does not have to be adjusted like points do, and coupled with a bigger coil, they will allow you to run a bigger spark. This will allow the fuel to burn better etc. Also, some can adjust things like dwell on the fly and things like that.

I prefer my points becuase if something goes wrong, I may can fix them beside the road.I can definatley put another set in really fast. If electronic goes bad, they are just bad. My points in my car are about 30 years old, and still run good. I take it on trips pretty regularly. Just the other weekend I took it about 150 miles to a car show.

I'm sure there are others on here who disagree with me though.

 

A distributor with electronic innards should be more trouble free than one with points. It should provide a somewhat better spark to the plugs, which could possibly let it start quicker. Properly adjusted points will work just fine, but as they wear the engine will very gradually run worse. As I recall, don't quote me on this, the dwell increases and the timing decreases as the points wear. I use a Pertronix insert in my stock distributor, and it's worked fine for four years, but still have a breaker plate in my trunk with pre-adjusted points on it. For twenty years I had used a Mallory Unilite insert, which failed twice. The first time I had no points to install and thus had the fun of walking 6 miles. The second time I had the spare points in my trunk, and in 5 minutes had swapped them in and drove away. Since then I've used the Pertronix.

P.S. I repair traffic signals for a living. The old mechanical signal controllers which are rarely used anymore, relied on solid silver contacts, similar to our points, to turn on the bulbs. These "points" worked well, but would gradually become burned and pitted until they would no longer work. That's exactly what points will do. They're fine for awhile.....

 

get a pertronix electronic ignition and keep a set of points in the glovebox, that way if the pertronix goes bad (it wont) you can pop it out and stick the points in

 

I always have points before untiiI purchase my present car, the PO installed Petronix Iandbeen there for the last 3 years with out any problem, so I can give my personal opinion as to the duration and convenience of changing and seting points, however since electronics can go wrong (as well aspoins) I carry an extra set, also the installation is easy andfast.
I am sure that other members can give you amore technical explanation and the pros and cons of both also if you check on SERCH this topic been discussed many times.

 

You will be good to go with the pertronix module.

 

To sum it up...electronic ignition either works or doesn't work.

The upside is that it means no maintenance required.

The downside is that there are no adjustments to make which in some cases is undesireable because of a particular carb setup you have or as stated, when they go out, they go out. There is no micky mousing an electronic setup.

 

Changing to Pertronix 'fixed' whatever was wrong with my semi-daily driver -stalls going around corners and long start-ups. I keep a new setof points and a condenserin the glove box as dcohen said, just inb case. I think I get a mile or so better to the gallon as well. Get the Pertronix high voltage coil as well.
Jim

 

One advantage not mentionedto the electronicis that they don't "flood out" in the puddles like the points can when moisture gets in there.

Aside from originality, I cannot understand wanting to keepantiquated technologies such as these so that it is simpler and can be replaced/repaired on the fly. I don't keep spare batteries in the trunk in case the alternator craps out.

 

ive got a pertronix mudule in my tractor