My 72 still has the original distributor and I was lookig for an easy way to avoid replacing points in the future. A few months ago with the recommendation of a friend, I bought the Pertronix Ignitor 1281. I thought why not? ..its just $65. I'm not cheap, I just thought; if this does the trick, fine spend the money I save on buying somthing else billet to bolt on.
It ran great....for 2 months. A couple weeks ago I pulled into the garage and I couldn't start it again. After an hour of trouble shooting I took off the distributor cap and noticed my rotor electrode was bent and the opposite end was worn from contact with the top of the cap, Thanks for the $2 part China. I'm certain the rotor cap was dancing around to have caused it. I tested the igniter with an ohmmeter and it was dead. I called Summit and they sent me a new one. As I was installing it I noticed it didn't seat well on the distributor base and the magnetic ring was below the sensor and the installation video clearly states they should be flushed with one another. Upon close look at the handy Youtube Pertronix install video for the 1281 I noticed it was made for the single point distributor even though the 2010 catalog says it fits 71-72 Pantera's. How I got it to work originally I have no idea and I'm grateful it didng break out on the road.
My other beef with my factory distributor is I have to go around to every parts store to match the rotor with a replacement that has the correct length key so the rotor seats completely on the shaft. Maybe its the Pertronix doughnut magnet, or maybe I'm just going to all the wrong parts stores.
The typical schenario with the parts attendant is: "I'm looking for a cap and rotor for a 1972 De Tom....uh a 1972 Mustang 351C" "Would that be a 4 barrel or 2 barrel"? "2 door or 4 door"? "Automatic or 4 speed"? "What color is it"?...You get my point.
Anyway, this replacemt parts availability thing is wearing me down and I just want something reliable. Also something that just pops in and will fit around my Eldelbrock Performer 2665. I'm not crazy about altering anything else like adding a 6AL or removing anything that's on there right now, although I do have a new Accell Super Coil.
This is one of those things I don't want to have to worry about again. I guess a lot can be said about the factory points and condensor. The first time I took the old points out, the breaker contacts were totally burned off, yet still the car ran great. Maybe I'll just go down and spent $10 on a new set of points and call it a day.
Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Joe
Original Post
