Ok I have a 69 Dart. It was left to me by my dad. He had already bought all the parts and I had a friend who supposedly knew what he was doing help me put them on. The engine was bored .060. It has a clifford intake, a 4 barrel Edelbrock, headers and I rebuilt all the insides.

My problem is the points. They constantly burn out. I already replaced the resistor as well as the points and condensor numerous times. I tried to convert it to electronic dist. with HEI, but I could never get it to work. I took it to a shop and it was running temporarily, but the points burnt out again. I bought a blaster coil, but when I had it at the shop, he put my old one back on for some reason. I've already put a bunch of money in this and have a little bit more to invest. I just want it to run. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

More than likely you are getting to much voltage to the pionts, with the Blaster coils it gets even more important to get this voltage right. Infact you may have ot run two ballast inline on a Blaster to keep it from over volting the pionts.


Take a volt meter and measure the voltage at the + side of the coil with the key in the run possition. The voltage should be somewhere around 6 to 8 volts. Sometimes the factroy ballast just want hold back enough voltage and you have to use a diff ballast or one that is ajustable, or even two inline to get the voltage down to where it needs to be. You can get ballast that are set at diff OHM's resistance to change the amount fo voltage that the pionts get.



I would just forget the pionts and try to get the HEI setup working. The HEI will need a full 12v ( or battery voltage, whatever that is) and will be worth the effort if you get it working. You need to bypass the ballast to run a HEI setup so it gets full voltage. It may be that you just have a bad HEI module, or low voltage or just dont have it wired and grounded right. Grounding is important and they want run without it grounded good.


You could take the easy way out and just put a MSD box on it, they will trigger off the pionts distributor if needed but a Electronic distributor would work best. If you do use a piont dizzy to trigger it then the pionts dont have a load on them anymore and they dont burn anymore. Plus the MSD will help the engine run a lot better because of better fire.


Jess

Yep, dump the points altogether and get the electronic setup working. It's not difficult. Follow the instructions and comments at this thread, and it should work fine for you.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

OK I looked at the electronic dist. and I think there is something wrong with it. When you spin it around, the distance between the contacts is different at every lobe (don't know if this is the correct terminology). Is this normal? Also I heard about something called ignitor which converts your old points dist. to electronic real easy. Would you guys recommend this?

One more thing. If I was to go out and buy a new electronic dist. and HEI module, where should I go? What exactly should I ask for. Is there a specific part # I need to ask for? Thanks for your help.

I noticed Accel has one of these kits at my local advance store. I dont know if the Accel Pertronics is any better but they do have it.


As far as getting a new or rebuilt electronic dizzy it might be kinda pot luck of getting the best one where. Napa on average seems to have a little better parts but not always. On Ebay you will see new old stock units for sale sometimes. Maybe some of these guys do know of a curtain year/model to ask for when buying dizzy. The HEI modul I would get a Accel or MSD one, unless you can find a old GM at the slavage yard that you know is good. The cheap HEI moduls dont seem to last good and the dwell control is not as good.



Your dizzy may have slack in it and that is why it has more clearance at each piont on the reluctor/star wheel. If it is the reluctor you can buy them new and replace it. Even the pick up can be bought.


I am betting that you just didnt have a good ground, or you had a bad HEI module is why it didnt work before. But ti might be a dizzy problem instead.

If your going to get into spending any money of any kind I would just go the MSD box and use one of the dizzy's you have to trigger it. You will have much better fire then. Just get a 6A box and be done with it.


Jess

I just want to make sure I get this right. If I buy the msd box, I don't need to worry about the points because no juice will be running thru them? Is that right? If it is I'll just buy that. If not, I'll probably get the ignitor, but will I still need an HEI module to go with the conversion kit? You guys have helped me a whole bunch and I appreciate your patience in dealing with someone who doesn't know that much about it. Thanks.

Anything that keeps the points, even as low-current triggers, is a half-baked job not worth doing. Breaker points are well worth eliminating because even if they don't burn, they wear, and as they do so, the timing changes. It's just an unnecessary nuisance, given how easy it is (in any of several ways) to have good, reliable electronic ignition. If you are trying for the swap that will be easiest to install now and easiest to maintain later, just buy one of the eBay auctions for a complete Mopar setup, such as this one, which is from a reliable vendor and includes all-new parts, including a new distributor with a favourable advance configuration. The advantage of this is that it's all factory parts, and so can be easily serviced (and parts easily specified and replaced) by any mechanic and at any parts store, anywhere. The HEI setup has the same advantage (standard parts) and has some operational advantages, but it's harder to install than the normal Mopar electronic ignition, which is just a simple plug 'n' play, drop-in type of arrangement. There are a lot of aftermarket ignitions that work well (Pertronix, MSD, etc.) but service and parts are a lot less widely available, which is a major strike against them given they don't give you any advantage in a street-driven car relative to one of the standard-parts setups.

Whatever electronic ignition setup you wind up with, put in an electronic voltage regulator. NAPA Echlin VR-1001 or Standard-BlueStreak VR-128.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Just a thought - coils can partially short out, and if you're primary winding partially shorts, you'll increase your current draw significantly, but the output won't suffer very much - the increase current draw compensates for the decreased number of primary windings.

Many years ago at a car show, a local shop gave free ign. diagnosis - car after car they told "bad coil". I asked them why most of the cars had bad coils, and they told me that people didn't realize coils are wear items, and after 30 years the coils just were going **partially** bad.

Alright, I promise this is the last post of questions. The kit you linked to on ebay looks good.
Now about the voltage regulator. Where is it located? Is it easy to install? I looked on Napa's website but I couldn't find the ones you listed, but there were a couple different ones.
Finally, in case I can't do it myself and want to bring it to someone, do you know of any mechanics that are trustworthy in my area that you would recommend? I am in North Central Florida. Thanks again for everything.

I don't know how close they would be to you as I am not familiar with Florida, the 1st 2 names that come to mind would be either Slant Cecil or CharrlieS.

The voltage regulator is on the firewall and is very easy to replace. I strongly recommend you get the three books described in this post and read them...they will get you up to speed on the workings of old cars in general and your old car in particular.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

If you cant do it yourself take it to CharrlieS on this board he by Ocalla in Silver Springs. Great guy to deal with.
Frank

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Scrapple: Because a mind is a terrible thing to waste.
73 Duster - Race Car
66 Dart Wagon - DD
178" FED
82 D150
All Slant powered

I_NEED_HELP

I am closser to Lake City, then Cecil, but still a couple of hours away. If you can get the vehicle here, I know we can get it fixed. If you want to come down, send me a PM, and we'll work out a day.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225