Ignition Upgrades for Early Fords I'll never forget my introduction to "points" style distributors. I had only owned my classic mustang for a few days, and had been using it as a daily driver. While sitting in stop and go traffic during one evening commute, the engine started to sputter and threatened to cut out. This symptom came and went for a few miles, until it finally made good on its threat and left me stranded in the center lane of a four lane freeway. I got the car pushed off to the shoulder, and after letting it cool for a few minutes, tried turning the key... low and behold, it started right up. I ended up repeating that scenario three more times that evening, before finally making it home. The problem was a set of burnt points, a four dollar fix, but not a cure. A friend recommended I spend the $60 or so and make the ten minute conversion to an electronic, solid state ignition system. He claimed that it will not burnout like points do, but will also provide better throttle response, acceleration, and mileage. I took his advice and bought the Pertronix Ignitor, and six years later it works without a glitch. So when my friend brought his stock 1968 Mustang over with starting and driveability problems, I immediately popped of the distributor cap and said "ah ha!". He still had the archaic single points in there, and they looked fried. Points function to trigger the transfer of coil voltage to the distributor, by the means of metal contacts. The minute you put a set of new points in a distributor, they begin a cycle of heat, friction, and wear. Eventually the gap between the points increases, which changes the dwell (amount of time the contacts are together) and thus the amount of voltage being passed through from the coil decreases, or ceases all together. All this results in poor driveability, hard "hot" starting, poor fuel economy, and terrible performance. Pertronix has a very simple solution that will far exceed the output of the stock points, never wear out, and best of all it fits under the distributor cap of a stock distributor. For folks who want a stock looking engine compartment, the Pertronix is undetectable. F/M The Pertronix Ignitor module and sleeve(#1281 for single point Fords). We highly recommend you upgrade to a hotter coil, better plug wires, and fresh plugs to handle the increased voltage. Shown here are the Pertronix Flamethrower coil and 8mm MagX2 wires. Pertronix Inc. 440 E. Arrow Highway San Dimas, CA 91773 800-827-3758 Installation 1. One bone stock 1968 289 'C' code engine. The pertronix ignitor is also available for big-block Ford Distributors. 2. Removing the cap and rotor reveals the stock single-point setup and condensor 3. Remove the two screws that hold the condenser and points in place. The single black wire shown connects to the coil, disconnect it as well. All of this can be removed. There is no need remove the breaker plate. 4. In comparison, the Pertronix module takes up less space than the stock points and condenser! 5. Feed the black and red wires through the hole in the distributor. The Pertronix module is attached with a single screw at the back of the module base. Leave this finger tight for now. There is and also a small tab under the front of the module base that fits in a corresponding hole in the breaker plate. Note the stock ground wire should be reattached under the retaining screw. 6. Slip the magnetic sleeve over the distributor shaft. The module and magnetic sleeve work on the principal of the hall effect, whereby a magnetic field, for more information on the hall effect, and hall switches, click here. 7. Use the supplied gauge to properly space the module from the sleeve, then tighten down the screw which holds the module to the breaker plate. 8. The factory mounted the coil on the intake manifold. Since this is an area of high heat, we choose to mount the new Flamethrower chrome coil on the side of the head as shown here. The red wire from the Ignitor connects to the positive terminal on the coil. The black wire connects to the negative terminal. 9. A new cap and rotor, along with the Flamethrower wires, complete the high-voltage tune up. We also installed new Champion plugs. The higher voltage output of the Ignitor system allows for larger plug gaps, which will result in better combustion. We gapped these plugs to .038"Check your timing and all connections before setting out for a road test. x