Pertronix Ignitor/Coil Setup

Last year was my first year of boat ownership and I discovered a few fun problems with my '76, namely a hot start issue and the fact that the gauges weren't exactly trustworthy. I'm trying to kill two birds with one stone and am rewiring the entire boat while replacing the gauges (other than the speedometers). I inherited a pertronix Ignitor I installed by the previous owner, and replaced the coil with a Pertronix Flamethrower 1.5 ohm at the end of last year. I believe the Ignitor was the main source of the hot start issue as he had it wired on the wrong side of the ballast resistor, and switching it to a better 12v source almost entirely resolved the failure to start when the engine was hot.

My question is this: should this setup (Ignitor I w/ 1.5ohm coil) even use a ballast resistor in the first place? The pertronix literature appears to say that a V8 application doesn't need one, but I was hoping someone on here might be familiar with these units and confirm that.

Thanks again KENO, seems like you have a monopoly on the engine knowledge department here

KENO....the "PerTronics Whisperer"

Lemme see...

How about mounting that coil, horizontally like stock coil was or is vertical required.

Coil doesn’t know which way it up or down, horizontally or vertical. Coil can be mounted anyway you would like. I have the same ignition setup as you. I mounted mine down low and out of the way on my BBC. I never cared in seeing that black can setting on top of the engine. If you are wondering if the oil in the coil will be a problem then the answer is no. Oil inside is only for heat transfer to cool the coil. I never seen a coil leak out the oil but if it does then it’s time to replace.

Many people don’t like the Pertronix ignition system setup as a replacement due to problems they have with them. But I never had an issue with mine and its been on for over 12 years.

Anyone had an issue with these pertronix ignitors failing when they get hot? My heat soak issue has now returned and the boat was missing hard and wouldn't rev past 2k after a few WOT runs followed by about 20min of sitting. The coil was pretty hot when I checked it, but I replaced the coil after having this issue at the beginning of last year and it's behaving the exact same as when it happened with the old coil. It only wanted to limp along with a ight throttle and would pop and fall on it's face over 1/4 throttle or so.

Believe it or not, I may have the original points in a box of extras that the previous owner gave me. If I do, I may try reinstalling them to troubleshoot this.

I haven't metered at the Ignitor yet, but my new alternator puts out a pretty consistent 14.7v and the whole boat is rewired with 10ga copper so I don't think it's suffering from low voltage. However, the previous owner ran it off 6v for who knows how long so I'm wondering if it's damaged from that.

The boat runs pretty well when it's cool, but still feels like it's running out of steam and only hits 4100rpm flat out (around 37-38mph). I have a DIY fresh air exhaust so I don't know if that is a contributing factor.

The secondaries seem to be working now, but I didn't run it with the cover open until it was hot and at that point I couldn't get enough rpm to do much with them. I could see the linkage starting to move, but too much throttle and it just falls on it's face after it's been heat soaked

Wanted to go to the lake today so I hooked the boat up to the hose first, since I don't have much confidence in it at this point. Couldn't even get it started. Took out the pertronix and reinstalled the points with the gap set at .017 and it fired right up. The neighbor let me borrow his timing light after that and I found the base timing set around 30 degrees at idle. Reset it at 10deg. It's got a bit of a rough idle so I thought I would adjust the idle mixture next, but it's only got about 10in of vacuum at 800rpm and the idle screws don't seem to have any effect. Also worth mentioning that the previous owner put an automotive 4160 on this thing. 

Isaac,

Let's just say that you assumed right, that's not a marine carburetor 

Hysteria wrote: I'm planning on converting it to EFI this winter.

Options are to get another and carefully match the recommended coil resistance, and cross fingers.
Alternatively, buy another pertronix, and use it to trigger an msd box, or another spark system or maybe a junkyard Duraspark. The high input impedance of the spark amp limits current through the pertronix to a fraction of it's design.

My one data point has lasted 21 years as a trigger after 4 seasons working solo

Hysteria wrote: Not sure what I'll end up doing with the ignition system now, I was planning on keeping the pertronix until all this happened.