A big thank you all for the advice  .... I went to zepherhills car show , flea market , auction ,  ect....today to buy a pertronix set up ,   took the distributor with me ,  good thing ,   i knew they would have a booth set up there.....I had all the info  off the   pertronix web site ,,   my distributor  has a black plate that looks like its original,  any way the kit from the net would not fit ,  the holes don t  line up .....so they gave me a number and name  of their tec man in Calif.  and said i need to call him,,,....so i will try tomorrow , but will prob. have to wait til monday  ................just another  challenge !!!   Any way had good time at the show ....Sam

56 victoria

The Pertronix spec sheet for the Flamethrower coil shows the primary OHMs at 1.50  - so within their recommended spec's - Ignitor life is good. Doesn't need the ballast resistor to get good service life if the coil has the necessary internal OHMs.

These two parts were designed to run together - and apparently they do!

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

I have had a petronix set up on my bird for about 8 years. I use the flame thrower coil and nothing else . been running fine ever since. 55birdman

55Birdman  Hickory NC

I think you can just check out the coil you choose - either by published spec's or by bench measuring OHMS on the one that you've got - and make sure its 1.5 or more. That resistance sets the maximum voltage on the negative side of the coil, that the transister in the Pertronix firing module was designed to switch - assuming we are still talking about the first edition ignitor. If you run more than 1.5 OHMs it simply provides additional "safety factor" to the switching module - and adds life at the expense of some spark energy. Many, many guys have run their engines with the original 50's coil and ballast resistor (way over 4 OHMS total) and an ignitor with satisfactory performance. You can get a little more spark energy by going right down to 1.5 (leaving out the ballast resistor) - its your choice.

My note about the ground - it doesn't matter if its the braided wire or another type - you just don't want to install the ignitor and leave the jumper out. Because that ground is a necessity for the coil - and now the electronics module as well - having a bad one (or maybe intermittent when the vacuum diaphragm is moving the point plate) is double trouble. If I had to - I'd actually run a flexible wire right out of the distributor case and ground it directly to the engine block. 

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

Steve ,  My distributor is from a 57 t-bird ,   so is a little bit differant...the ground runs from theside of the housing to point plate screw ,  is not braided ,   wire with black coating ,  looks to be in good shape  ..i could swap to a braided wire from another dist. ....the main problem is or was , i think y-gearhead answered this problem ,,,  should i use a balance resistor like the original  ?   The flamethrower coil  puts out 1.5  ohms with 30,000 volts  .....Thanks  for the pic and info.....  some day i will finish this project ,   but at least i can see the light at the end tunnel ....Sam

56 victoria

This picture shows the points set-up.

Be sure that after you install the Pertronix module, you still have the braided "jumper" between the pivoting point plate and the distributor body. Because the Pertronix is going to do the same thing the points did - ground the coil negative lead to charge it - you have to be sure it gets to a solid ground. The plate pivot isn't a reliable ground - so all of these point distributors had the braided jumper. 

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

Y-Blockhead ,   Thanks for the info,  i saw they have a coil with 1.5  ohms, and one with 3 ohms  ,  prob. go with the  1.5.......one has 30,000 volts and the other 40,000 volts   ....with a stock moter  30,000  should be enough !!!.   Thanks  again....Sam

56 victoria

Hello blockhead .....I was planning to use the ignitor ,  with  flame thrower coil...But open to other opinions  !!!   Try to keep the original look as much as possible....the 292  is set up like a t-bird and want to keep the 57  dist,  ..am running a 57 tac   ,  but want a little more  punch ..........Sam

56 victoria

Question,  I know this has been discussed before, but can't find where....  When converting a  57 distributor with a pertronics kit ,  do I run this with the coil resistor,  and what coil do you all recommend......  this is a 56,  rebuilt  292,  30 over, 57 four barrel intake with an edelrbrock  500,  but rest I believe is stock.  Any input will be helpful..........thanks      Sam

56 victoria