"Old School question" Points or electronic ignition ?

... a reliable car

 

On a car that came with points...points. You can keep a set of points, a condenser and a ballast resistor in the glove box along with a feeler gauge and pretty much get yourself out of trouble 9 times out of ten. The only reason to go to electronic ignition is if you are getting points bounce at high revs, but the old bangers rarely have that problem.


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I think my new old car has a couple of sticks that rub together.

 

I converted the Daytona to electronic because it's the only way to solve fouled plugs forever.

I wanted to keep the Vette original in engine bay appearance but as soon as I fitted a higher lift / longer duration cam, there wasn't enough spark to ignite all the fuel when I stomped on the accelerator, resulting in a giant flat spot and huge backfire from unburnt fuel in the exhaust. Installed a Pertonix unit inside the distributor plus a 40K coil and the problem was instantly fixed. I carry the points and condensor in the glovebox in the unlikely event the Pertronix fails.

Also, electronic allows a much wider plug gap, so you get more complete combustion, meaning the exhaust isn't quite so stinky. You wouldn't survive 2 minutes in a closed garage with an idling Daytona...

 

My brother's Dino is much better, and the way he did it it can't be picked at a concourse.

Mind you if they can't tell if it's a GT or a GTS then whom cares?

 

He should just enter it into the Studebaker comp

 

I want it noted for the record that I refrained from commenting on your much wider plug gap...

 

You’re right mate and no argument there, but you’re talking about a modified engine and carb. Electronic ignition is miles BETTER than points, but most of the aftermarket kits I’ve seen are absolute rubbish. I knew a guy who used to make up electronic igniter kits for points systems where you retained the points as the trigger but the coil was fired by the electronic igniter. It was great because the points no longer had any load on them and would never wear out and you were able to adjust the dwell via a pot on his unit. You didn’t have to change the dizzy, only the coil to an EFI unit, which gave you enormous spark and all of the efficiency of an EI system.


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Noted and seconded

 

Agreed. However I think modern petrol has more additives that cause build up on spark plugs and needs a stronger spark to keep them clean.

My workshop landlord has a steady business now removing heads and blasting inlet ports with almond shell, on ordinary cars that have done 100K of city driving. TFSI Audi/VW's seem very prone to build up.