Points Replacement Experience

[ddgarcia]

Decided to put a "points eliminator" set in the distributor to replace the points in my 67 coupe. I have a set in my 1970 Bronco and figured I'd beat the future problems with points by acting now (although points were working fine.)

Install went fine. I used an Accel 2020 set, which is identical to the Mallory unit but cheaper. I got mine on Ebay and paid about $35 for it.

The instructions note that you need a specific coil, an "ignition ballast resistor," or a resistance wire. I had no idea what the last two were, but figured out I had the ballast resistor already installed so went ahead with the points conversion.

Three photos attached: the first is pre-points removal, the second is after putting in the special plates for the module, and the third is the module installed.





I went to set timing and couldn't get close to the 6-8 degrees it should be. The engine kept quitting. It would run fine at about 25 degrees or thereabouts...timing light showed the TDC mark was about at the top of the pulley.

When I ran the car, it cut out a couple times going slow but then ran OK. Until I got going about 50 and hit the gas, then it sputtered.

I thought it might be a weak coil, but folks I asked didn't think that was the problem. Still, I picked up a new MSD Blaster 2 for about $38 and put it in. I also put in a new fuel filter (isn't that always the suggestion when cars don't run right? Well, I went ahead and did it.)

Car now runs like a champ. I was able to get the timing to about 6 degrees, too. I think the old coil couldn't handle what the module wanted...but I could be wrong and it was the fuel filter. :p

I've owned the Mustang for only about a month, but in that time I've got about 17 mpg with mix of highway and city driving...it will be interesting to see if this improves mileage. The car does seem to run more smoothly.

Overall a good mod I'd recommend, perhaps as a cheaper alternative to pertronix. Module replacement if it fails isn't as expensive, either.

Dan

[Fast68back]

Originally Posted by Texas_Bronco

Thats is a much cheaper alternative.

What is that bracket next to the distributor?

[JonK]

Hi, a word of caution or something you may want to remember...
I did this conversion a few months ago on my newly acquired '67 289 coupe. You should not need a ballast resistor before the dist. There is a factory resistance wire coming from your ignition switch already. According to my '67 shop manual it's pink and is wired with a red/green stripe wire on the back of the gauge cluster with a red/yellow wire also. If it is still good, according to manual it should show 4.5 and 6.6 volts when tested so if you use a engine mounted one as you have this is the range you want for resistance. I plan to run a fresh non resistor wire as suggested on forums in place of this pink resistor, and use an engine mounted one as you have. I just don't trust a 40 yr. old wire on the back of my dash to go out, the one on the engine is easier to replace.

Having said all that I had installed a Crane electronic ignition conversion and it worked for a week and shut off, I tapped the module and it would restart, 2nd module and one month later I had the same problem. I would be driving 60mph or any speed and everything would go off, coast to a stop, open dist. cap, tap module, restart. I had a ballast resistor in line w/the factory wiring, it was getting too much resistance built up after a certain amount of time driven.
Long story short, don't use a resistor inline w/factory wiring if the inline pink resistor is still there and working.
HTH Jon

[ddgarcia]

JonK: Thanks for the advice,I didn't know the car may already have a factory resistance wire. I'll check and that may save me more headaches.

fast76back: That's a thingy to separate the plug wires between the dist and the spark plugs. I can't think of the name--something like a comb? And attached to it is a white rectangle thingy that's the ballast resistor. It sits between the ignition and the coil (+).

BTW, I had one of these modules go bad on my truck a few years ago. I heard a loud backfire and the car wouldn't go...finally started back up for a few seconds, then nothing. I limped home (start, floor it, coast a while; repeat). Luckily there was no traffic and I lived close by. Dropped another unit in and all was well.

So I think these may fail every few years, perhaps. But I've got a spare for each vehicle and for the cost I can live with it. But I don't know how long the unit had been in use and the replacement has already given me three years, so I feel pretty good about it.

[ddgarcia]

I pitched the old coil. I can't tell for sure--there was a partial label and some printing--but it certainly looked like the original factory one. I think it was about time... :0