Anyone ever heard of these, or had one? Kind of embarrassing who spanned 40 years in GM parts to admit he's never heard of these, but I've never heard of these.
I was piddling around on the AC Delco site to see what all they had listed for my car and this popped up.
I looked at the link, and my gut was that someone was selling this as a GM kit - but ti's interesting to read that GM is actually selling these.
I may have voiced my opinion here before, so at the risk of repeating myself;
I had contemplated going this way decades ago when they first came out;
There was one of the kits that had a built in adjustable(?) rev limiter that I really liked the idea of having;
But then practical experience of electronic vs mechanical (eg: points) ignition set in when I had a magnetic pickup coil go bad on an HEI that I was running in the 1973 Formula that I owned for a spell;
It completely came out of no where, completely disabled the car, and absolutely required a tow to a safe spot to pull the distributor (after the diagnosis was done).
Points on the other hand, being mechanical in nature will never just "poof!" and die - they will slowly start to run less well;
and that right there is the cusp of it;
Electronic ignitions were developed and installed with the intent of less maintenance required than a points ignition.
If points go bad, all you need is a flat head screw driver, a spare set of points, and you WILL be back on the road again.
And to the few who tout that you get hotter spark, and more power from electronic ignitions;
Baloney.
Yes, it is in fact true, but in real world side by side testing, you would never feel the difference.
And points, if checked on once in a while, will keep working for MUCH longer than most people realize.
I no longer plan to run any kind of electronic conversion.
(and there are some pretty cool ones - like the small body HEI conversions!)
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1970 Formula 400 Carousel Red on black (std) interior "no drivetrain option" car (same base drivetrain as GTO) 1:411 1970 Firebird Formulas originally sold in Canada
Had Pertronics since 2002, its never left me at the side of the road.
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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
I agree with Unruhjonny, points are more dependable in that they will not stick you on the side of the road, they talk to you. HEI or pertronix work great but fail with zero warning. That being said as long as you keep a spare HEI module in the glovebox or a spare pertronix kit you are golden. But there is nothing wrong with points on a street car and it's what they were built to run with, why spend money for nothing.
great GM site,as far as a conversion kit its ok for peeps with limited
knowledge on the old points.When i get my 348 ready for my 62 impala
im going with points but with the addition of a MSD blaster coil.in the trunk
will be a dwell meter/tach,spare points .the allen tool to adjust,etc....my HEI
already let me down and had to get towed home.[the pickup sensor wire had
an open wire]you can't fix that on the side of the road.....Bob
Interesting discussion, there seems to be no middle ground with Pertronix type units, folks either seem to love em or hate them, no inbetween. Sorta like Cilantro lol .
I had Pertronix in my Olds Cutlass S years ago and it definitely ran better the instant I put it in (Pertronix II with matching coil) but I get the concern about them just going leaving you stranded.
/\ like Carlo pointed out;
When a magnetic pickup issue happens, there is no roadside fix;
The distributor needs to be removed, and torn down.
I believe that these conversions use some sort of reluctor gear that attaches under the rotor - and they work with the "kit" to get the pulse - again, something that I'd wager you could not fix on the side of the road.
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1970 Formula 400 Carousel Red on black (std) interior "no drivetrain option" car (same base drivetrain as GTO) 1:411 1970 Firebird Formulas originally sold in Canada
