Pro & Con's of Pertronix vs Points

[Mark Jones]

Points are fine if you remember to adjust them every so often. Unfortunately I forget until performance is noticably suffering.

I have a Crane Xr700 in my Spitfire and like it a lot better than the Petronix it replaced. It seems to make the car idle even nicer. One benefit of the Crane is that it has a LED that you use to static time the engine; a big improvement over the guessing game with the Petronix.

 

[GreenOne]

I use points to fill the little draws in my parts bin because the boxes are colorful.

Pertronix have been installed on both TR6's and have performed flawlessly !

 

[MichaelG]

Electronic Ignitions (Pertronix, Crane,etc.) major benefit for Triumph owners, IMHO, is slightly easier maintenance and perhaps peace of mind from the intrinsic sense that EIs must be superior.

My personal experience "in the car" is that they both work just fine. That said I went back to points when Jeff at Advanced Distributors rebuilt my distributor

The car has never run better...primarily due to the fact that the vacuum advance needed replacement, and the unit is recurved for improved performance.

I think the major "con" of Pertronix is that it will be installed in lieu of a professional distributor rebuild or replacement. The buyer thinks they have solved all the potential ignition problems...then find themselves,as I did, replacing the coil, wires, plugs and even rebuilding the carbs...when the real "problem" was in the advance mechanism.

 

[TR3driver]

I think the major "con" of Pertronix is that it will be installed in lieu of a professional distributor rebuild or replacement.

I would certainly agree that is a problem. Although the Pertronix is somewhat less affected by shaft wobble than points are, it certainly cannot make up for problems with either vacuum or mechanical advance, both of which are important to proper operation. And shaft wobble still affects the Pertronix, even though less than points.

Having run both points and various electronic ignitions over the years, I'd have to say that points are more reliable, in terms of always getting you home. Only once in over 40 years and uncounted thousands of miles have I had to change a component on the side of the road, or walk away from a car with points (condensor failed suddenly). And spares are essentially free, just keep the old ones when you do a tune-up. They are always good enough to "get home".

By contrast, I can think of at least 6 instances where an electronic ignition has quit suddenly and had to be replaced (usually with points). More if you count damage done to other components caused by the increased output of the conversion (eg my MSD6 burned away the center contact in the distributor cap).

That said, I plan to run a Pertronix plus a MSD 6 with the "hot rod" TR3 motor I'm planning "Real Soon Now". And a set of points in the spare tire well, "just in case"