The 'E' Type Forum

Hi Everyone

I decided that it was about time I fitted the Petronix Electronic Ignition kit to my E's dizzy.
The original set-up had only the positive lead going to the coil via an insulated post on the side of the dizzy body. I removed this and fitted the rubber cone through the hole, which allowed both the positve and negative leads exit the dizzy.
My problem is that the exit point is below the base plate and so the wires have to come up through it to get to the electronics mounted on top. The old positive lead had all it's insulation rubbed away at the point where it emerged from the base plate and some genius had wrapped that bit in black insulating tape.
There are two gaps in the base plate where the wires can come up through but I'm a bit worried that when the vacuum/centrifugal advance mechs act on the plate it will swing round and squeeze or worse short the positive wire.
Has anyone else come across this problem before?
I could drill a new hole in the dizzy body above the base plate but this seems a bit drastic.

Cheers

Alan

I'm afraid my experience ( vicarious ) of pertronix has been poor. They tend to conk out without warning leaving you stranded. We have just this last month had this experience with a Mark VII and reversing the pertronix was not at all easy because the previous owner had lost the rather rare bits ! Whatever you do, make sure that any changes you make are such that you can reinstall the points and condenser, and the associated wiring , without too much difficulty on the road

Chris

After much fiddling and fettling I've managed to get the "Plug & Play"Petronix
to fit. I've built up the positive lead on an insulated post using ring connectors. This will allow me to switch back to the points easily, if the worst happens.
I ended up using my Dremel to grind out a semicircle on the edge of the base-plate to allow the wires to come through. This was the only mod that was required in the end.
My GT6 has run on the Petronix system for 10 years without any problems. Maybe it's just the luck of the draw.
Now all I've got to do is fire up the engine, which'll have to wait until I've taken up the slack in the timing chains. I see you we're involved in a thread on this very subject. I was going to adjust the vernier wheel a small amount and see how that does. Do you need to check the cam positions before and after?

Alan

I have heard of a few people having problems with the Pertronix, however I ran my car with it for 8 years without a problem. Last year was a bit different though. While doing something on the car I heard a very loud bang and couldn't figure out where it came from, a few weeks later after going for a short drive I blew a fuse and when checking that out with the ignition on I melted all the white ignition wires.
While I can't pin it exactly on the Pertronix I'm pretty sure it had something to do with it.
I'm now running with the EDIS kit.

Dave