1955 Feedback on points eliminators

[Texas TBird]

Thinking about going to a points eliminator kit. I'm looking for better performance, ease of maintenance, etc. My 12v 292ci has always seemed a little sluggish. Also, should I upgrade coil or any other ignition equipment?

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[pltmgr]

Im a fan of points elimination however your engine sluggishness may not be points related. What is your engine timing?Carb properly set up?

 

[ICON 56]

Did you find dead top center ?

 

[Hwoodlive]

I'm also a big points-eliminator fan. Pertronix is my go-to. The replacement bits go inside the distributor cap, so everything looks stock. I tend to use their coils too. I'm not sure you'll see a notable increase in power though. Quick disclaimer: I did have a Pertronix unit fail, which greatly surprised me. It was only a couple years old, probably had a thousand miles on it. It was the magnetic pickup unit which replaces the physical points. My 352 was randomly quitting during warmup, the problem got worse, eventually leaving me stranded in traffic. A multimeter showed markedly differing readings when comparing it with a known good one, so I did the swap. Problem solved. So I guess eliminating points doesn't necessarily guarantee a trouble-free life.

 

[J Korinek]

I used a points eliminator kit and coil from Accel. Works great have not had any problems after 5 years of use.

 

[mplamothe440]

I have a ‘55: best thing I have done to this car was to install a Pertronix ignition kit. Car starts up every time within a second or two. No more cranking for many seconds wondering if I flooded the carburetor. I also installed RFI spark plug wires(required) and iridium spark plugs. Cost was about $300 all in, great investment

 

[spgreg]

I replaced my points with solid state from Pertronix. Recommend you read the code on your distributor to get the correct one, I got the wrong one the first time. The 1282 as in your picture was the correct one for my '55. I called them and they were great about it. I also bought the Flamethrower (PerTronix 40011) ignition coil and replaced the spark plugs. You will probably need to remove/bypass the coil resistor if you get the ignition coil. It looks like this:

 

[Docj]

I have a Pertronix set up in my '56 and liked it. However, it seems they are heat sensitive and I believe mine is shot. I'm going to get another, lengthen the wires, and mount it outside of the engine bay. I'm thinking a good place might be next to the radiator. Mine doesn't run hot; I have an aftermarket aluminum radiator. Another problem may have been that I didn't get the fancy coil and wires, though. Even without them, it ran quite well with the system.

 

[BlackBetty]

Points are ok. So are the electronic units. Do your homework. 100% of electronic units require full12 volt to the distributor. Ford uses a resistor wire ( pink incolor on the back of ignition switch, between switch and distributor. This HAS to be bypassed to supply a full 12 volts all the time or the system will eventually fail premature. Hope this helps.

 

[Docj]

Points are ok. So are the electronic units. Do your homework. 100% of electronic units require full12 volt to the distributor. Ford uses a resistor wire ( pink incolor on the back of ignition switch, between switch and distributor. This HAS to be bypassed to supply a full 12 volts all the time or the system will eventually fail premature. Hope this helps.

Perhaps this is why mine failed, rather than heat. I don't think the instructions mentioned bypassing the ignition wire, and I didn't check the voltage going in when I installed the unit. It would certainly be easier to bypass the ignition wire than to move the entire unit from the engine bay.

 

[Hwoodlive]

The Pertronix instructions are pretty explicit about whether to bypass that resistor (the amount of times I've re-read those to make sure I'm doing it right... jeez!). I think Ford eventually moved to a resistor wire, but any late-'50s Ford I've worked on has an engine- or firewall-mounted ballast resistor unit. Shapes/designs vary. You don't need to cut wires or add new ones to bypass the resistor either. Since its connectors are spade lugs, you can just solder up a really short wire with lugs on each end, then unplug the original wires from the resistor and plug 'em into your li'l bypass wire (making sure nothing touches ground, of course). That way if you ever go back to points, all the original resistor connectors are there, ready to go.

 

[JimLeanna55Bird]

In my 55 I switched to the Petronix and Flamethrower coil. When replacing it I discovered the prior owner had installed the Petronix unit but had not removed the resistor ballast. When I removed it car ran perfect. Before it was cutting out around 2500 rpm. Make sure you remove resistor because as as stated above the unit needs 12v to the distributor. Get a circuit tester and confirm 12v at coil. With resistor in it drops it to around 6.

 

[BlackBetty]

Thank you for that. Only during cranking did the ford electrical system supply a full 12 volts. Modern electronic ignitions require a full 12 volts. I'm no expert but read the directions. These upgrades work BUT so do the good ol points too. name your poison. Change is good mabe not. You decide