Pertronix Ignitor/Coil Setup

Thanks, I'll check the air bleeds and make sure they are clear. Never heard of the whole ethanol/zinc thing before, that's interesting. The boat has only seen rec 90 since I've had it, but I imagine the previous owners probably used e10

I put the rebuild kit in my 4160 last night, don't think it was needed though. Carb was clean and the gaskets were still pretty pliable. However, I did find that the transfer slots on the primaries were almost fully exposed, which is probably why my idle mixture screws didn't do anything. The idle speed screw had to be opened that far to get the motor to idle at 700-800 rpm in neutral, so I'm not sure what's causing that yet. I adjusted the secondaries to the bottom of the transfer slots while I had it off as well.

After that, I attempted to reset the timing to around 10deg, but the motor isn't running at this point so it was a little tricky. It will occasionally hit while it cranks, but it's inconsistent and won't idle. Giving it a shot of fuel from the accelerator pump seems to help, but choking it doesn't. Won't start with the throttle fully closed or cracked open either.

If I can get it running, I'll check the timing advance. Last time it was running it had a random hard miss at idle when set to 10deg that would smooth out when I advanced to to that 30deg range. I'll also try to do a better job verifying that the timing marks on the pulley correspond to the true TDC soon. Thanks for all the input guys

I did that test this morning before I took the boat out and ran into the issues that ken described. It seemed right, but I wouldn't trust myself to feel a few degrees of difference so I was hoping to come up with a different way of doing it. I know the mech advance works, but I wasn't paying attention to what rpm it was advancing at so I can check that again when I get it running. The boat ended up dying today and wouldn't even idle. We got nice and wet getting it off the lake, so I need to get this fixed before the wife puts in a sell order.

Geez KENO, my backyard hackery pencil-in-the-plug-hole works great!  Last time I used that method was on my 1994…and there was enough space even with the manifold.  This is a good test to confirm harmonic balancer timing marks and timing indicator / pointer.  

Try this:  Remove plugs (it makes it easier).  Using a large socket and ratchet or breaker-bar, rotate the engine by turning the large nut on the harmonic balancer.  Assuming your engine is RR, you will turn counter-clockwise when doing this from the front of the engine.  While slowly rotating the engine, place your thumb over the #1 cylinder spark plug hole.  On a small-block Ford, that would be the cylinder closest to the driver's seat.  While rotating then engine, you will eventually feel air pressure building under your thumb as the piston moves upward on the compression stroke.  Once you are sure that you are on the compression stroke (not exhaust stroke), take a long stiff soda straw or new pencil (eraser side down) and slide it into the spark plug hole until it rests on top of the piston.  Then, slowly rotate the engine while keeping you soda straw / pencil against the head of the piston.  As you rotate the engine, the piston will push the straw / pencil upwards out of the spark plug hole.  When the straw / pencil stops moving upwards, you should be at top dead center (TDC).  Then you can check your timing marks and indicator on the harmonic balancer and see if everything looks kosher.

If everything is set up properly and you are really at 30 degrees BTDC on the ignition timing as "base" then your engine would have serious detonation issues under load.  Add 24 degrees of distributor advance at 3,000 RPM and you are looking at 54 degrees total advance.  Doesn't pass the smell test...

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.

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

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

Isaac,

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. 

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

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.