Steve Laifman wrote:
> Jim,
>
> I have the Pertronix Ignitor, an ACCEL hot coil, and a stock tach. It
> works fine without any mods. It's when you start adding M6AL capacitive
> discharge high energy systems that you need mods.
>
> I also have the Pertronix 2, and their super hot coil, but have not
> installed it yet to say whether there is a difference. I doubt it. The
> 50,000 volt coil, however, might cause arcing in the stock cap. Can't
> tell yet.
> --
> ____________________________
> Steve Laifman
Steve and Jim:
I installed the Pertonix Ignitor II with the Flamethrower coil last year.
My tach did not work with that setup over 1500 RPM (bounced all over the
place). I solved the tach problem by trial & error, based on an old tech
tip I read somewhere. Where the "sender" wire plugs into the back of the
tach, it has, in effect, one loop of wire around that plastic plug. I had
to loop a wire around the plug four times before it worked properly. It's
interesting how it worked, by trial & error. Two loops increased accuracy
to about 2500 RPM ( & then the bouncing needle again). Three loops made it
work to about 4,000 RPM, and four loops around, for some reason, allows the
tach to work spot on all the way up to at least about 6500, about where I
chicken out with my use of the accelerator peddle. (At least the motor
hasn't blown up, yet). The tach is also very accurate as I adjusted it,
using a multi-tach to compare it to.
The concern Steve L. brings up about arcing with a 50,000 volt coil and a
stock distributor cap is correct. Steve and Jim, you'd better get an
"adapt-a-cap" (large, designed for high voltage) if you install the
Flamethrower II coil. With my stock cap I got seriously jolted with voltage
several times (yeouuuuch!) before I figured out what the heck was going on.
With the adapt a cap I can put my hands right on the wires and cap, engine
running, with no ill effect.
As for the difference between the Ignitor I and II, the II also controls
"dwell" (which I doesn't) and, also worth the additional cost, has a built
in sensor that shuts down the ignition, protecting it from shorting out, if
you forget and leave the ignition key on with the engine off for a long
period of time. If you do that with the Ignitor I, you'll likely ruin the
module.
One other tip: Buy yourselves a backup module and keep it in your tool kit,
which I now do. My first Ignitor failed at the Ventura British car meet
last year and it took me an hour to figure out what had happened, and
another almost two hours to convert things back to points (and the stock
coil...the Flamethrower II is too hot for stock points and will burn them
up, according to Pertronix). Also, when I went to the Pertronix, I had
increased my plug gaps to .50, and the car would barely start (and ran
poorly) with the stock ignition back in (after the module failure) with
that plug gap. The moral of the story is it's a lot easier to replace just
the module (probably 15 minutes max) if it fails, than switch back to
points. I doubt I'll have the problem again, though, as after that failure
last July, I've put about 15,000 miles of trouble free driving in with the
new module. Bottom line is that with the Ignitor II my Tiger idles much
smoother, accelerates better all the way up the tach, and I no longer have
to mess with my ex-dual point setup every week. It's worth the trouble do
do the conversion.
Steve Sage
1967 MK1A 289
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