[melrose]

Before you say "just go ahead and spend the money and buy a conversion kit", please understand I am on a budget, and the distributor is a part I can update to HEI once the car is on the road after a year or so. With that being said, is it ok to run points ign. on my daily driver if I want to.
Chris

 

[onovakind67]

I've got points in both my daily drivers, no problems at all.

 

[Jim Mac]

what do you think they used before HEI's? Nothing wrong with points. jim

 

[Dean]

Yes they are OK, just a PITA and you can pickup a good used HEI for twenty bucks or so.

 

[melrose]

I have an hei unit but it doesn't look correct which I don't know if that matters at this point

 

[Jerry Briggs]

Everyone of those 72 year models came with points from the factory.

 

[melrose]

Thanks I just picked up my ac delco points parts to rebuild it.

 

[Rich-L79]

If you've already got an HEI, why not use that? Rebuilding an HEI isn't that much more expensive than rebuilding a points distributor and in the end will be a LOT more reliable and require less maintenence and tuning. If the coil and module are still good, rebuilding that HEI might even be cheaper than rebuilding the point distributor. And throwing a Pertronix set up in a points distributor is less than $100 if you want to maintain the look but have the benefits of electronic ignition.

 

[melrose]

I'll probably convert to Pertronix after the car is on the road. I didn't want to deal with it right now.

 

[spdracer256]

I installed a pertronix kit in a 72 international scout a while back. It was super simple and worked like a dream. Best of all, you couldn't tell just looking at it. Just make sure that you get 12 volts to the pertronix by removing the inline resistor(sp?). Well worth the money.:yes:

 

[kettbo]

I have had cars with points simply die. Bad condensers. Might want to have spare parts with you and a matchbook cover to set the point gap with should a back-road middle of the nights failure occur.

 

[justkyle]

Points work just fine. Do yourself a favor and put a ziploc bag in the glove box that has a small screwdriver, mini mag light, and extra set of points and the correct feeler gauge in it.

When I used to ride around in cars or on motorcycles with points, I always carried an extra set. Once you do it a few times, it's no big deal to change a set of points if they get burned. I used to be able to change the points in my old chevelle and in my old Triumph in about 10 minutes.

When I was riding my Triumph I used to carry half of an emery board in there too. Sometimes just cleaning up the points a little will be enough to get you home.

The only time I ever had a problem is when I forgot to turn the key off. If I accidentally left my key on in my Triumph, it would burn the points every time.

 

[Tom Mobley]

HEIs have a condensor too. It's there for the same reason as it is in a points distributor and does the same thing. Don't recall ever having to replace one in an HEI though.

 

[onovakind67]

I have had cars with points simply die. Bad condensers. Might want to have spare parts with you and a matchbook cover to set the point gap with should a back-road middle of the nights failure occur.

It used to be the other way around, electronic ignitions were perceived to be inferior. Even the early MSD and Delta boxes came with a plug or a switch that converted them back to a Kettering system if the box should fail. I run points in both my daily drivers and have never been left stranded anywhere, but my MSD-2 box failed and I had to use the plug.

 

[mr 4 speed]

I like points. Nice,simple + cheap
set dwell at 30* and forget about it (for a little while anyway)
Make sure you get the contact nice so they don't burn.

 

[Tom Mobley]

set the initial dwell to 28°, as the rubbing block on the points wears in it will climb to 30°. once it gets up to 34° set it back to 28°.

 

[mr 4 speed]

ahhhh.....good tip Tom :thumbsup:

 

[SWHEATON]

Another tip,i have been messing with gm points systems for over 37yrs and found that the rubbing blocks wear failry quickly on most point sets (esp accell with heavier spring) so you have to check the dwell fairly often,not a big deal takes 5 mins but to some people that would be considered a PIA.

But what i did find over the yrs was that when i used STD IGN PRODUCTS /BLUE STREAK points DR2270XP good for approx 5k rpm and maybe a smidge more or DR2371XP(h/duty spring ) good for approx 6,500 rpm in a stock gm points dist in good cond thats not sloppy that these point sets would run a heck of a lot longer before the rubbing blocks would wear enough to require a dwell tweak.

I would install a set of those points in my car and then let them kind of take a set over a few hunderd miles and then i would check/re-adj dwell a 2nd time at that 200 mile mark.

Then i could go a complete season (May-november/mostly weekend use only) without
having to set them again untill the spring of the next season.

I have owned my car for 30 yrs and have litterally been through 4-5 sets of points tops in allthat time. And i never replaced them becasue the car was running poorly ,i did it as preventative maint and i am running a mild 396 that at one time had enough cam for 6k rpm shift points but now it has a milder cam and gets shifted at 5,400-5,500 rpm tops.

Dwell spec is 28*-32* so for a tight/not sloppy dist shaft run 30 deg dwell but if the dist is worn dont use 28 deg dwell because in some cases at hi rpm that could cause the points to open too far due to dist shaft slop resulting in misfire.

Another thing you should do when running a stock points system is run good quality lo resistance spiral core plug wires along with low resistance copper/brass terminaled cap & rotor.

You should also run the little hotter then stock pertronics 40k volt coil(stock coil is 30k-35k volt max) that looks stock and is same size a stock gm points coil too.

Running these good quality low resistance ign parts with a points setup really helps it to perform better. I setup my friends Pontiac 469 that 'spretty hot shifting at 6,400-6,500 rpms with never a misfire. He was very surprised at how well the old points system would perform when setup properly with the h/d spring blue streak points f(or longer run times inbetween dwell tweaks)along with the high quality low resistance ign parts. Doing those things realy helps to beef up the stock points ign system esp all the low resistance parts like spiral core wires & copper/brass terminaled cap/rotor to allow a lot more current to the plugs with the hotter 40k volt coil to back all that up.

So go to your local mom and pop indipendent auto parts store and they should be able to order the std/blue streak points for you ,i would think autozone/advanced auto/pep boys should be able to to get them too. Acell makes good cap/rotor with brass/copper terminals but napa & std ign products also makes them. There are many mfg that make the spiral core wires so that your choice. But if stock look is important then pertronics make a good set of stock looking black wires that i have been running since 2002 with no issues thus for with stock ex manifolds on my 396.


Scott

 

[Schurkey]

HEIs have a condensor too. It's there for the same reason as it is in a points distributor and does the same thing. Don't recall ever having to replace one in an HEI though.

Nope. The condenser in an HEI is for the same reason as the condenser mounted to the side of the coil on a points-system--suppresses radio interference. Both are connected to the + side of the coil. The module circuitry handles the nice, clean current cut-off that makes the spark. Now, if the radio starts to buzz...you might need a new HEI condenser.

It used to be the other way around, electronic ignitions were perceived to be inferior. Even the early MSD and Delta boxes came with a plug or a switch that converted them back to a Kettering system if the box should fail. I run points in both my daily drivers and have never been left stranded anywhere, but my MSD-2 box failed and I had to use the plug.

Yeah, I remember folks crying and whining about having to take along a spare module in case the electronic ignition died. Points were supposedly as reliable and unbreakable as a rock. How times change...

 

[zeke67]

Nope. The condenser in an HEI is for the same reason as the condenser mounted to the side of the coil on a points-system--suppresses radio interference. Both are connected to the + side of the coil. The module circuitry handles the nice, clean current cut-off that makes the spark. Now, if the radio starts to buzz...you might need a new HEI condenser.

Yup!

I have seen a condenser fail twice on a points car. But a rare occurrence and easy enough to replace. Nothing wrong with points, my 64 still has 'em, probably always will.