thinking about switching to a electronic ignition in my 70 electra. any suggestions? would it be good or bad idea? thanks...
Unless it is a show car that you are going for all original, I think electronic is the way to go. I recently switched my 64 Riviera to electronic. I went all out with MSD ready to run (no box) Ignition system - distributor, coil, wires - I am pretty happy with it. You just need to remember to replace the resistance wire that was used for the points system. I thought I could at least get it started without swapping out the resistor wire but alas it kicked my A**. It was a bit pricy, I here there are less expensive ways to go out there but I was going for flash too. Good luck!
I installed a Pertronix Ignitor III system a few months back, and have had no problems with it. The original ignitors had a magnet wheel installed under the distributor rotor which could rub on the sensor & the magnets would fall out, but the new system III uses a sensor on the reluctor which reduces the number of moving parts. You need to remove the resistor wire, and run a new 12V wire off the ignition circuit. For street driving, it is excellent, and includes adaptive dwell and an adjustable rev limiter. New coil and wires came with it, ran about $150. I installed an OEM cap and rotor, and the setup looks very close to original...just 1 more wire coming from the positive terminal on the coil. That's it.
