Pertronix

Q; There’s a lot of talk at the shows of distributor modules that replace the points, what’s your take on this?

A; Well, as a purist, it took me a while to try them, probably my convincing motivation was that, I’m doing restorations with points in them like most of us, and the last thing that I want is a call on a Sunday from a customer complaining that the car won’t start, I’ll instruct them to lightly file the points, I’ll get a response of ‘what are points?’ this hasn’t happened yet, I don’t want it to, for my customers or for me. So I’ve been installing the modules for 5 or 6 yrs now.

I think that any of us that have driven and worked on old cars have experienced the fate of oxidized or dirty points. They are clearly the most inefficient part in the ignition system, having the most variables for failure. Just the factor of humidity alone raises havok on them, effecting coil charge time, and causing inconsistency from fire to fire.

The ignition modules are designed for most applications back to the 30’s, and there are several performance levels to choose from. The first and most basic is designed to directly replace the points and condenser in the original distributor on the same points plate. There are no other modifications needed, the same coil, rotor cap wires and advance system stay intact. The only visible difference is the presence of a red wire with a black one between the coil and the distributor. The black one is connected to the – side of the coil just like the original distributor wire, the red one charges the module and is connected to the + side of the coil. I like to put the wires in a ¼” asphalt type loom to help keep them discrete. The module fires so quickly and consistently, that in some cases it may actually advance the timing a bit, so it’s a good idea to put a timing light on it after the install.

I’ve had one in my car for about 5 yrs now, in the spring I hook up the battery, check for critters and fire her up. I haven’t opened the distributor in years, in fact I don’t take it out much, but when I do I check the fluids, fire her up and go. I don’t want to be screwing with points because the car sat for a few months. I have had great results with them, that’s why I sell them.