IGNITION!!!!!!
It was the Petronix Ignitor electronic ignition module(s).
Not one but two strangely enough. I managed to get the points in correctly
and do the static timing thing, many thanks to all. So, with my 20/20
ignition hindsight now I can see that I have been running with a sporadically
misbehaving aftermarket igntion module. Let that be a lesson to me. I was so
cocksure that these new fangled space age things would either work or not
work...not half work or work poorly for who knows how long. How many times
did I pull into the garage after warming my black beauty up to twist and turn
the distributor thinking that I could get rid of that miss when I was
accelerating out of corners. Finally it started to actually cut out on one or
more cylinders mimicking EXACTLY what a neophyte like me would assume was a
fuel starvation problem. It also appears to me to have done an excellent job
of mimicking a coil going bad. It would only show its ugly symptoms after
like half an hour of driving. It must have had to get that module up to a
certain temperature for a certain length of time. Then I would sit by the
side of the road contemplating the hassles of a tow and by the time I gave it
one last try it must have cooled down enough to start this vicious cycle over
again.
In retrospect my biggest mistake was being so afraid of putting the points
back in. It was a heck of alot worse thinking about doing it than actually
doing it. If I had put the points back in when I first started noticing
hesitation on acceleration and occaisional backfiring I could have saved
myself some wear and tear. But I wouldn't have learned my lesson as well that
is for sure.
I guess I am just a lucky guy. I think that I have been running for the last
year or so with a flaky module, then replaced it with a module that was
negative ground instead of positive ground...or had a short in it from the
beginning. I can't believe how little there is to the points. From all I had
read I had the impression that they were the worst thing since unsliced bread.
Piece of cake.
Now I know why my purist buddy mocked me for stooping to such 21st century Tom
Foolery.
Thanks to all who replied and I will create another post to warn those with
Petronix ignitors to not assume that these do-dads either work or don't work.
Don't be a scaredy-cat like me and be afraid of putting points back in at
least as a test if you have one of these modules and have any sort of ignition
related problems no matter how minor they might seem.
Thanks again to all. I'm sure I will come up with some more rudimentary
mechanical questions now that I am back on the road. Time to put my steel
hardtop on and dust off those sidescreens.
Thanks to all,
Jim Lee
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