W Mahoney

!966 FB 289 Edelbrock performer, holley 4 bbl,flowmaster,tremec 5 sp
Put a pertronix ignitor 2 and flame thrower coil in 6 mths ago. Ran great for 200 miles then slowly started to run rough. Now very bad, surges 600 rpm and rough nearly undrivable. Pulled the carb and went through it, no problem.
Checked MSD helicore wires and plugs no help. All connections to pertronix checked o.k. Should I try a new pertronix unit or could there be another explanantion. Fuel pump is new and works fine. Seems like an ignition problem but pertronix is new and ran fine when I first installed it. Suggestions ? Problems began after I installed a new flaming river tilt column and TCP rack and pinion and car sat for a few weeks. Mark

Haywired

I had the same problem as you, it was the Pertronix. What coil are you using? I went through 2 more units with less than 500 miles total, gave up and put a Mallory Unilite in no problems since.

The Ignitor II likes 12 volts and to be matched with their coil.

Is your resistor wire bypassed?

W Mahoney

Thanks. I have a pertronix flame thrower coil. I could not identify anything described as a 'ballast resistor' to bypass. Where would it be located ? Do all early 289 have a ballast resistor ? Mark

kalli

the ballast wire is the pink wire from your ignition switch to the firewall
at the ignition switch there's about 2" of black/green wire if memory serves me right and plugged in there via connector the pink wire. it drops the voltage from 12V to around 8.5V
You need to bypass this wire if you have Flamethrower II, flamethrower one needs 8.5ish volts

W Mahoney

Found the wire . Understand now how this works. However I bypassed this with a jumper from the battery to the ignitor as suggested by pertronix so that it gets a full 12V and still runs bad.Could the system have been damaged by not bypassing the wire and run for 200 miles or so ? Mark

tx65coupe

I don't think that would damage it, but who knows. I guess anything is possible. Call or email pertronix and ask them.

I have their Flamethrower II distributor and FT II coil. I bypassed the resistor wire and everything has worked great. I have about 1500 miles on my new engine, transmission etc.