Hi guys,

Been working on my winter project (B style intake, ported bores to a Demon Jr 525) & finally got all the parts & time to put it back together. Problem is she won't fire. Suspecting it must be something I just did (usually is isn't it?), I went over everything & don't see anything obvious. I figure it's gotta be fuel, spark or compression. I didn't take the heads off, so rule out me messing compression up. I just replaced the carb so fuel seems likely. But I wanted to also confirm spark. I have a 57 dizzy with a Pertronix, & that was working fine. I didn't remove the dizzy or plug wires when swapping intakes, so timing wasn't disturbed. I did relocate the coil (Flamethrower coil). Another clue is I have been chasing down intermittent brake & tail light issue (success on that one) while I was saving up to buy the carb & parts. So had the ignition switch on for periods of time without the engine running.

I have searched the site & saw that it's possible to burn the Pertronixs Igniter 1 up by doing so if the Hall switch happens to be closed. I contacted Pertronixs & they told me how to check by using a meter & sweeping the magnet by the sensor. So it failed that test, I think I found the issue, & buy an Ingitor 2 so that won't happen again. I decide to also buy all new spark plugs & put them in with the new Igniter. I put in the new stuff, have 12.6V to the positive coil terminal, & still nothing. I lay a spark plug on my exhaust manifold with plug wire attached & see no spark when turning over. Also try a timing light & see no flashes of the light. I should see something I believe with either of these two methods. I have a good ground to the Igniter mount plate as suggested by Pertronix.

Ideas to help me chase it down would be appreciated. I think it has to be something simple & likely self induced.

Brian - 56 T-Bird

Woodinville WA

You mention relocating the coil.Make sure it is well grounded to the engine.An ungrounded coil won't work.

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO

Relocated the coil with a different bracket as the Demon Jr is so large. It's still on the intake, just a bit closer to the passenger valve cover. I have the coil wired the same as it was before = red Pertronix wire to +, 12V switched to +, black Pertronix wire to - of the coil. Are you suggesting to run a ground wire from the block to the coil - terminal to try?

Brian - 56 T-Bird

Woodinville WA

Grab a set of points and condenser, drop it in there and see if you have spark.

The pertronix is probably fried after leaving the ignition on. Unless they changed them, the Ignitor 2 is not resistant to leaving the key on either.


Lawrenceville, GA

Pertronix claims the Ignitor 2 verson is resistant to that & these are brand new. Haven't left the switch ON with this one.

Brian - 56 T-Bird

Woodinville WA

Brian - The ground they are refering to is the coil case (to the block) - not the main terminals.

Do you still have a neutral safety switch in the circuit - and are you in neutral?

A "sparking" interuption of the power feed to a device can double the voltage for a instant - and the electronic devices aren't too happy with such interuptions.

Before you buy still another of the Pertronix - consider installing the Ford Duraspark trigger device (stator and reluctor) in your distributor (same as MSD) - and then using a Ford / GM / Chrysler electronic firing controller. They are cheap and effective and available on Sunday afternoon - everywhere - for a few bucks - simply plug and play. The set-up Charlie McCraney uses looks like a Chrysler controller to me - I've run my bird on both Ford (and aftermarket) and GM (HEI four spade) controllers.

I wired my outfit through a 30 amp plug-in relay so power to the ignition coil is on one leg and the controller on the other. Pulling the relay disarms the whole shebang so you can leave the iginiton switch "on" and trouble shoot the rest of the systems. PM me with an email address and I'll send you a schematic....PDF file.

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

The coil case is a ground path? Mine is the black case. Looks painted & was scratehed, so I did repaint the coil case. Could that be it?

Brian - 56 T-Bird

Woodinville WA

I've had outstanding results with Pertronix, so the more technical changes would be the last thing I would do.  If the ignition was on long enough to kill the module, it could have opened up or shorted the coil primary winding.  If you have an ohmmeter, put the tester leads between the smaller + and - terminals.  On the Flamethrower, you should get about .5 ohms or so.  The readings you look for are .1 ohm or less or infinite(open).  An easy way would be to switch out the coil, almost any coil will do, for a few seconds and see if it fires.  If it does, get a new flamethrower or other low ohm coil compatable with the Pertronix.

In the first post you said you "had the ignition switch on for periods of time without the engine running" while tracing a brake and tail light issue.



I see that the current Ignitor II has the key left on feature. They must have changed it because the Pertronix 2 I had years ago died after I left the key on for a short time. Reinstalling the points confirmed it.



A coil bracket that works well is this one:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/FMS-M-12044-A2/

They can be found in salvage yards on many Ford V8s, in black. I used one of these when I switched to the Holley. It fits well.







At the present time, I'm running a different ignition than pictured, as Steve pointed out.





Lawrenceville, GA

when you check for spark , do you get spark as you stop cranking but no other time ? try disconnecting the ignition side of the starter solenoid