Ok, my Stang won't start again and to be honest I am getting pretty PO'd at it.

Long story but I put in a Pertronix system. At first it wouldn't start so I replaced the engine guage feed harness mostly because the more I looked at em those wires were really worn out and it's been on my to do list for a long time anyway.

After replacing some wires, etc it started right up and took it for a drive. A few days later I started it up to check on something voltage wise and it started then also.

Now it won't start again. It cranks but that is all it does is keep cranking and cranking.

Should I try to bypass the resistor wire and if so how do I do it? Or should I just take the Pertronix out to chunk it in the trash and put the points / condesor back in?

 

I would pull the Pertronix, put it on the shelf for now, and reinstall your old points and condensor. Run that setup for a while to see if the problem goes away. If it does, then at least you know your dealing with a problem with your Pertronix. If the problem remains, then you can eliminate the Pertronix from the list of "possible" causes and focus on something else.

Just a suggestion.....

 

I am going to put the points back in and go from there.

Question though....what gap do I put on the points from the main shaft of the distributor?

 

The pertronix is pretty picky about loose connections. I would check to see what you have for power at the coil and make sure the connections are tight. I had aan issue with cutting out when I put mine in that was from a bad connection but, once I fixed that, it's been going for like 5 years and I haven't had to touch it. If you do put the points back, you want to set them to open to something like .030, but you need to hook up a dwell meter to get it right.

 

The pertronix module requires a full 12 volts. Check to make sure it is getting a full 12 V before doing anything else

 

Depends on the model. Pertronix I works perfectly on 7V.

 

Why don't you pull a sparkplug wire or hook up a timing light to check for spark first? It could save you a lot of time.

I ran my Pertronix for a year because I was too lazy to bypass the resistor wire and had no problem. Because the resistor wire drops the voltage sent to the coil from 12v to 8v and the Pertronix calls for 12v I finally did the bypass a while ago. It's not hard. First check the voltage at the coil for a reference. Refer to the wiring diagram and find the pink wire coming off the ignition switch and running to the firewall connector. Because resistance in parallel is less than either resistor by itself I attached a wire in parallel to the pink wire, as close to the switch and as close to the firewall as possible. This brought the coil voltage up to 12v. For connectors I used the type that allows you to tie two wires together so you don't have to cut the pink wire in case you ever want to go back to original. I don't remember what the type of connector is, I'll try to find a picture and post it later.

Don't chuck the Pertronix, they really make tuning easy.

Here's the connector, they're called Quick Splice Snap Connectors.

 

i never had issues with my pertronix ignitor 1 / flamethrower 1 combo. it likes stock voltage, very reliable, no need to bypass any resistors.

however, when i chucked my flamethrower 1 for a flamethrower 2 without upgrading to the ignitor 2 and i had big big problems. long story short, the flamethrower 2 coil will not work with the ignitor 1, you must have the ignitor 2. and of course if you have the 2 you must have a full 12v.

after i figured that out it hasn't let me down since.

 

the connecter your talking about is basically called a vampire tap as your just taping into the lines

 

I always called those "scotch-locks".