So I gave up on the factory ignition on my 72 280 se 4.5 (wasn't getting any spark) and ordered the Pertronix ignition (1885) and the Flamethrower coil (1.5 ohms). And guess what, I'm still not getting any freakin spark! So I've got two questions if anyone can help. First, I've read some posts here with people saying they use the 1.5 ohm coil and some use the 3 ohm coil. I have the 1.5. Have I ordering the wrong one?

Second, after talking with the customer help, I added an extra ground wire to the breaker plate and ran it to the neg on the battery. Should I ground the other plate that is beneath the top one? They sit right one top of each other so I can't see how it's not grounded.

Thanks for the help

Do this field test.

http://www.vintageperformance.com/retrorockets/field_test.htm

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A Dalton

It's sort of a misconception to think that the Pertronix system will "cure" an ignition problem. It won't. It's a performance enhancement.

You have to basically ditch the car's ignition wiring and install fresh to your pertronix. The Ignitor has to be grounded to the coil, with it's black wire, and the red wire must receive a full 12v. If the red wire is receiving less, because you have it hooked to the + on your 1.5ohm coil which is being fed only 8v via a ballast resistor, then the system won't work.

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That is basically it, but the Pert is not GROUNDED to the coil..it simply uses the Neg side of the coil to complete the circuit feed TO the Pert Module, which in turn grounds the Black wire at the Module when switched. [And ONLY when switched]
The Pert ground is the Modules Case to the Dist plate.

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A Dalton

Thanks for the replies. Am going to get on the "field test" later today.

As for the wiring, I followed Pert's instructions. Although i'm only getting 9.1v from the power wire that comes off of the starter (the same wire that sent power to the ballast resistors under the factory ignition). The customer help guy said the coil needs a minimum of 8v so I figured that wasn't the problem. I guess I could run a wire from the + of the battery to a 12v switch then to the + of the coil, but damn, if I forgot to turn that off every time I turned off the ignition, i'd burn out the coil. So i'd rather not do that.

Oh yeah, I'm not using any of the stock parts (spark box, etc)

The feed wire you want is the one from the Ignition Switch..and then make sure that your coil does not have a ground wire on the Neg side...some of the Early Trans Ign switched the pos. side of the coil and used a ground wire on the coil Neg.. { Version 1 ] You do not need any of that.

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A Dalton

So i did the test. Well, et me back up here. Before I did the test, the + of the coil was reading 9.4v. After I rewired everything to do the test, I found that the pert. ignition switch worked but it only read 8.8v then down to 0. then back up to 8.8 and so on as i rotated the rotor

I guess that's just not enough voltage for the switch to work. I have 3 wires coming off of the starter (not including the ground strap). At the wire connector, one goes to the transmission and starter lock-out I believe, the second to the + of the coil (9.4v) and the third (12.3v) to the alternator.

All 3 are controlled by the ignition switch, so maybe I can run power to the coil off of the 12.3v wire. It's the heaviest gauge wire out of the 3. Another idea is to upgrade the second wire to the same gauge as the 3rd. I'm thinking that way it can carry 12.3v as well.

Or maybe I'm just grasping at straws here..

Oh yeah, on more thing. I currently have black wire from the pert. to the - of the coil. and a ground from the - of the coil to the - of the battery. Should I not have the ground to the battery?

Thanks again guys!

>

That is the problem..

The neg of the coil should have ONLY the blk wire from the Pert Module...
And the Pos of the coil wants the Red from Pert and 12v from the Ign sw.
When you use the Flame Coil, you do not use the ballast ..
If you had a neg wire from the coil to bat, you may have burnt up the new coil..
Do the test again w/o that ground wire... it is not needed, as the Pert does the grounding.....thereby triggering the coil..

Wire it as the instuction tell you....they do not tell you to ground the coil neg....

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A Dalton

Rereading your post, I think I can see why you are having a problem with the coils feed circuit.

So, here is some info to read:

The IGN SW. has 3 Positions ..OFF/RUN/START

When the Sw is in the RUN position, there will be one of those wires you took off from the old system that will have 12 Volts [ battery Voltage] .
That is the IGN wire and that wire goes to the coils Pos+ terminal.
When the key is ON, you have 12v, when the key is OFF, you have no volts..that is the IGN Wire you want to use for the Pert system.

The wires from the starter are only activated when the Ign sw is in the START position ..that is of no concern to you now b/c that is the old Ballast By-pass circuit...where the ballast was by-passed as an aid when you Crank the engine. That is not IGN feed that the Pert system needs ..you need the RUN position 12v , not the Start position feed....

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A Dalton

On top of all this I'd be real concerned about feeding a relatively high performance ignition, any type, less than a good clean 12V. Check your battery voltage, make sure it isn't marginal. It's not that it'll not run, probably, but it's not a good practice.

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One more Radar Lover gone...
1982 VW Caddy diesel 406K 1.9L AAZ
1994 E320 195K

Which is a good possible..b/c he mentions low voltage on the by-pass circuit from the starter solinoid...which should be Battery Voltage b/c that is non-ballast circuit.

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A Dalton

Thanks guys. Will do the test tonight without the ground. I even told the customer service guy that I grounded the coil and he didn't tell me not too. Oh well. Hardly cranked the engine so I think it'll be fine.

Battery is fully charged. At least it's reading 12.4v. Will check the wires like you said. Doesn't make sense that I'm losing 3v down to 9.4 on the + of the coil. I think the wires are 15, 30, and 50. Will make sure that they are not crossed.

Hope to have some good news to post tonight!

I think when I did the conversion on my '72 the first thing I did was to find the +12V feed to the ballast with the key in the "on" position which is the one you want to use to feed the pert module - you remove that wire from the ballast and connect it directly to the red wire feeding the pert module. The other +12V will be on the other side of the ballast and is used to "boost" voltage while cranking (it comes from the starter switch circuit). You don't need to use that one at all, as I recall and I think I just terminated that wire.

You can always run a quick and dirty test of the pertronix system by simply running the red wire directly to the + terminal on the battery which should allow you to start and run the car if everything else is wired right. Just be sure not to leave it connected for more than a few seconds unless the car is running or you can burn out the module (that also goes for leaving the key in the run position without the engine running). I have done a few of these conversions and the first thing I do after I install the hardware is test it with the red wire directly to the battery just to make sure the coil and module are installed right...then I find the key "on' +12V wire and attach it to the red wire and am done.

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

As I said, the ONLY wire you need from the OLD system is the 12v feed FROM the Ign. SW. ..that's all.....the rest of orig wiring is not used.

The Pert goes Red to + of coil, Blk to Neg of coil and The 12v Ign wire couples up with the Pert Red on the coil +.
It is that simple.

I think your confusion of a ground wire is b/c some guys use a ground for the distributor b/c sometimes the dist does not have a good ground to the block due to dirt and crap at the lockdown bolt or dist plate...but the test I gave you verifies that. Another Simple test for that is to simply take a V reading using the plate in the dist for neg test lead of your meter and the pos of bat for the pos test lead..that V reading should be the exact same V. as your Battery V...if Yes, then you know the dist has a good ground as it sits and needs no further grounding .

Note**
This Dist Ground verification test does not require key ON...it is just a dist. ground test.
If the V is not the same as the battery V, [ less than], then you have a poorly grounded distributor. [ which will effect the Pert module/system , as it needs ground to power both the Pert and complete the coil circuit.]

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A Dalton

Guys,

Debating Ignitor I for my 75 450sl. Have a new Bosh "super coil" that has 4 ohom internal resistance. Is this coil ok to use with the Ignitor I? I put the new coil in because the old one looked pretty bad; it wouldn't work so I put the old one back and the new one is just sitting here.

Tks,
Joe R.