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Message: <blockquote data-quote="vwmania" data-source="post: 1200378" data-attributes="member: 8882">Regarding Electronic IgnitionIf you want to make it last forever, or at least longer than the 70,000 or so it normally lasts, get rid of the points. Opening the points represents as asymmetric load on the distributor. Opening the points is the major cause for wear on the shaft and bushings. So get rid of them. Use a Pertronix unit. No load on the distributor shaft. Runs concentrically. Vastly reduces the wear-rate which is already pretty low because the distributor only turns at one-half engine speed. (Don't use an optically triggered unit. The Pertronix is magnetic.)Buy a Pertronix 'Ignitor' that fits your distributor. Pull the distributor and install the 'Ignitor'. Be careful of the wiring. One lead is +12v, the other is the signal lead... it goes to the coil's negative terminal. The ground is internal through the body of the distributor.Be sure to set the proper air gap and make sure the Hall effect sensor (the black epoxy cube on the aluminum plate) is standing square to the plate. I've installed several of these and most were bent right out of the box due to improper riveting. Easy enough to straighten but if you don't notice it the thing can actually rub against the magnet ring... not a good idea. (And yes, it's 'magnet' not 'magnetic'. There are four high-strength magnets cast into the nylon (?) ring that fits down over the cam lobes of the distributor shaft.)Make sure the magnet ring is pressed FULLY down onto the cam lobes. There are instructions with the Ignitor but the illustrations don't look much like the real thing.Put the rotor back on. (You can expect to wear out a rotor about every two years due to the higher spark voltage. Just carry a spare so it won't leave you stranded. Ditto for the cap.) Make sure the ROTOR seats fully. On some distributors, you can't use the 'Ignitor' because the magnet ring prevents the rotor from seating full depth. (But you can machine a bit off the lower edge of the rotor, if you're careful doing it.)Fire it up. Hey! Now THAT's a difference. Reason is,you've just eliminated a lot of mechanical jitter that is present in most old distributors. The jitter is still there but the triggering method used by the 'Ignitor' masks it. No more points bounce. In fact, no more points, period. Your plugs are now being fired in response to an electronic signal that is far, far more precise than any mechanical switching arrangement.Slap a strobe on that puppy. And plug a sniffer up the tail pipe -- you can lean that thing down by quite a bit, now that you've got a higher spark voltage. Static timing okay? Then go ahead and kick it up to where the advance is all in and check the max. Dial it back down to thirty degrees or less. (I run 28. Yeah, I know. But I'm more concerned with getting there than how fast I can get there.) Hot weather, bad gas, heavy load, crank it back a bit more. And tweak your idle down better ignition has caused your idle rpm to increase. Keep them between 800 and 900 rpm. Any slower and the engine won't cool properly when you come off the freeway, etc.Now here's what's gonna happen. Your mileage is going to take a nice jump. Most folks report an improvement of 8 to 15 percent. Depending on how much you drive, that alone will pay for the mods in about two years. But the driving! Damn! The thing really DOES run better! That's because you've gotten rid of points-bounce and shaft-jitter and incomplete combustion at higher rpms. And that means your engine will last a little longer because your oil is going to stay a little cleaner because there won't be so many unburned hydrocarbons in the blow-by that gets into the crankcase.Plus it's going to start better. A LOT better. And no more cross firing during damp weather. And your engine is running cooler, too! Those Corvair-type air seals really make a difference.I've been using such an ignition system for nearly thirty years -- it's been available that long. I first wrote about it on the internet more than five years ago... and immediately got a blizzard of flamers and hate mail -- lots of kiddies shouting 'If it's really that good and really that easy, then why haven't we seen anything about it in the magazines?'</blockquote>