I have had a 50% success rate with Petronix- both of my cars are negative
ground. Petronix seems most successful in fixing a worn distributor-it did
wonders for '59 Minx. The car purrs and will easily do 75 MPH (which is
amazing given the 4.55:1 rear end and single small Zenith carb!). On the
other hand, my '72 Plymouth Cricket (Hillman Avenger) ran notably worse with a
Petronix. I converted the Cricket back to Lucas points.
I carry a spare set of points and condensor for the Minx in the tool box.
The Petronix is a very simple bolt in replacement. However, I spent an
afternoon very, very carefully setting the timing on both cars. On the Minx I
had to use a very expensive timing light that allowed me to dial in the
advance on the timing light itself because the Minx only has a TDC mark on the
pulley. I used a Minx shop manual to check all of the advance at various
RPM's with and without vacuum attached.
Jan
"Barbara Blue" <the_blues@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
The response to my Alpine Touring inquiry, while much appreciated, has raised
questions in my mind. Here they are is no particular order.
Starters. Does anyone know anything about the gear reduction starters listed
by Victoria British? At $250 they are rather salty, but may be be worth the
price if they solve the starter problem.
Pertronix ignition. Why is it so popular? Is it wiring simplicity? It
does
not seem to be made (anymore) to fit the Lucas distributor, and seems to have
a high failure rate. Electronic ignition failures are usually sudden and
catastrophic, and not something that can be jerry rigged to limp home. This
does not sound good. One thing about the old distributors, components are
cheap and can be replaced in a few minutes, even if they require a lot of
attention. How about the Crane Cams FireBall ignition. Is there a problem
with
it?
Transmissions and rear axles. In driving about 750,000 miles with manual
transmissions, and over a million miles total, I have lost one transmission
front seal, one back seal, 3 or 4 throwout bearings and clutches and one
slush
box. Two axle bearings,one differential bearing (or so the mechanic said)
and a few seals is my rear axle count. I usually buy a new car, and put over
150,000 miles on it before it goes to the crusher. My point is, on an old
car
redo, if the gearbox and rear axle are not making strange sounds and are
behaving properly, why bother? I am especially leary of upsetting the
established wear pattern of differential gears if there are no obvious
problems. In my experience, they are extremely durable and when they do
fail,
it is a bearing that gives a good bit of notice that all is not well.. Do
people go through them, replacing all bearings? What am I missing here?
Current update: Right now I am leaning toward adding an OD and keeping the
1725, sans Lucas. However, if on teardown, a new block is indicated, out
with
the whole drive train!
Thanks to All
Bill
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