Because I bought my car at an estate auction, I can't talk to the previous owner. I do have his notebooks, though, and they are a real help. He installed a Pertronix ignition and was running new solid core (coper core) plug wires. The car ran well that way, but:
1) There was terrible radio interference in the expensively rebuilt radio. I see that the previous owner had the same problem, and that he was considering resistor plugs but did not try them.
2) The online Pertroninx information recommends carbon core wires-- at least for the "Ignitor II" unit. (Mine is an ignitor I.)
Anyway, I put carbon core wires in for those reasons and plugs 2, 3, and 6 stopped firing at idle (no drop in tach reading when plug wire off). Plus, the car was bucking on the road, under load. Switching plugs around from other cylinders did not get those three cylinders to fire at idle, so now I have put the solid wires back on.Idle now up from 690-700 to about 900! Have not road-tested car yet Any experience with this? Do I need to worry about the Pertronix unit with these wires? Any recommendations about the radio?
Thannks,
dan Wing
Dan,
First off,
Year, Make, Model, Engine, etc. That would help..... ;) Solid core NG with Pertronix. Something else is going on there. Sounds like he lost interest in the car or didn't have the knowledge or patience to get it sorted out.
Bobby
I'm running pertronix with solid wires and champion uy6 plugs in my 1940 lasalle. My radio works good.
John
28099
Have you had the plugs out? How do they look? I would say there is something going on here beyond the wires.
There are supposed to be capacitors all over the car to take out the interference caused by the OE system. Check to see if those are there or hooked up.
David
I believe we're talking about a 1940 60S here.
If the car in question is a 1940 LaSalle, the idle sounds pretty high. I'm not in any way knowledgeable about them, but presuming the flathead family specs to be similar in this regard, my 1941 flathead idle is about 400 rpm, not the 690- 900 mentioned. That high and I get gear crashing with the non-synchro first. Perhaps this is minutae but if the idle is up there for runability it may also be of interest. Hoping this may be helpful in context.
I'm running a Pertronix with a stock type coil and repro solid core wires. Radio has decided to take some time off and be silent but previously there was quite some static. I'd love to know what the connections and such all are for the factory suppression. (I did find the springs inside the grease caps on the front end when (repacking the bearings recently).
Thanks
Scott
Hi guys can someone guide me on the correct pertronix kit for a 1940 lasalle 52. I am planning to convert to 12 volts. Delco Remo Distributor number is 1110806
Amol
I would go straight to the horse's mouth ---
Technical Assistance
440 East Arrow Highway
San Dimas, CA 91773
Phone: (909) 547-9058
Fax: (909) 599-6424
Email Tech Support
http://support.pertronix.com/index.php
This might help with some other questions ---
http://support.pertronix.com/kb/faq.php?cid=1
According to Pertronix, you need carbon core wires, not solid core wires. See, "With all PerTronix ignitions we recommend that a suppression style spark plug wire (also called carbon core) be used. The suppression wires do an excellent job of controlling the EMI with no degradation to the ignition performance."
Since the engine was missing on 3 cylinders with the carbon core wires and not missing with the solid core wires, I would think that the carbon core wires were defective. Perhaps the issue with them was at the end terminals. Anyway, I would suggest installing another set of carbon core wires. In my own experience, I have run into this once or twice (new carbon core wires that were bad).
Is there going to be a radio in that 1940 LaSalle? Otherwise the solid core wires should be fine.
I'm going to take an educated guess that the field created from the solid wire when the ignition fires is source of radio interference. It impacts the radio and maybe the solid state ignition. I quit doing magic so no way to diagnose your vehicle over the internet.
Do what Pertronix says, call them, as someone else has mentioned.
As described, no fire in some wires means it's not reacting to the cylinder impulses on the affected cylinders. Probably need to pull the distributor, but let Pertronix diagnose. I had good results with them.
Previous owner apparently did not call them.