GMC V-6 ignition question

[George Bongert]

Originally Posted by POWERSTROKE

GEORGE - Delco called them Uni-points, points & condensor combined. I used them in my annual tune-ups in my '70 Nova with 307 from about 1974 thru 1977. I had a bad wire on a condensor leave me stranded late one night. Not even having a condensor wire was a good thing in my book.

I agree with you on the elimination of the condenser wire. Another side benefit is not having to fiddle around with that dinky little condenser mounting screw, which no matter what you did, was so doggone easy to drop, leading to a fishing expedition to find the darn thing, right along with a generous helping of expletives!!

[BobShing]

I'm enjoying all the replies to my question. The responses about the uni-set points/condenser brought back memories of installing them when I was a tech at Kirk Chevrolet - Oldsmobile in Roscommon Michigan. Back then we used to be pretty good at sliding the condenser in without removing the screw completely, but the uniset made things easier. Then GM decided they needed a rf shield covering the points/condenser... now that was a pain! We all had an ignition screwdriver that would hold the screws with a little spring loaded twist blade.

[BobShing]

Here's a couple of photos... The ignition Shields & screwdriver.

[George Bongert]

Greetings, Bob!

Yeah, it definitely looks like that RF shield could be a royal pain in the behind! I've still got my ignition screwdriver, as well as a good set of ignition wrenches for working on agricultural and industrial applications. As far as staying with point and condenser for your engine goes, I highly recommend the Pertronix Solid State pointless conversion for your engine. Easy to install, and you'll never have to worry about points and condenser again!

[BobShing]

George,
I'm planning on going the road less traveled with electronic ignition conversion. Pick an existing module (ford tfi remote mount looks like a plan) and use the points to trigger it. The current across the points will be so small they should last indefinitely. One plus of this plan is simple conversion back to points as the primary switch if the electronics fail. I used to use a bench setup of this kind to demonstrate electronic ignition to students. I won't take credit for actually applying to old cars though, got the info from the H. A. M. B. Forum. I'll post a build report when I get around to building it. I also have a couple of tractors that I want to convert.
Bob

[POWERSTROKE]

GEORGE - A word of warning on using the Ford thick film ignition as a base for your system. It wasn't one of Ford's better ideas. I had an '87 300-6 F-150 with it and an '88 302-HO Mustang GT with it that both gave up around 50,000-60,000 miles. Seems the heating & cooling cycles delaminated something inside the distributor. Had to pull the distributor to replace. Lucky Me! Had a '78 300-6 F-150 with Ford DURASPARK, little diecast box on the firewall gets tired after 50,000 and the Standard brand automotive replacement outlasts the rest of the truck.
I finally got smart. Traded for a '96 F250 with the IH built 7.3L diesel. And carried a glow plug relay and cam position sensor with me plus the tools to change them. Of the over half a million miles I put on FORD pickups the diesel got the vast majority put on it, and 25 years old I'd still take it for a long road trip.

[BobShing]

The remote mounted tfi module took it off the distributor for just that reason. The heat sink should work when mounted in a cooler spot. (and give the option to bypass it in case of failure, reverting to the stock set up). At any rate it promises to be an interesting project.

[POWERSTROKE]

BOB - Good, you've thought that problem out. Neither that F-150 or Mustang was one of FORD'S better ideas, makes me wonder why I've bought several more since.

On your old ag tractors, PERTRONIC's is the brand of solid state replacement system used. They get about 50-50 approval on antique tractor forums. I think the ability of the installer enters into some of the unsatisfactory installations.

[George Bongert]

Originally Posted by POWERSTROKE

BOB - Good, you've thought that problem out. Neither that F-150 or Mustang was one of FORD'S better ideas, makes me wonder why I've bought several more since.

On your old ag tractors, PERTRONIC's is the brand of solid state replacement system used. They get about 50-50 approval on antique tractor forums. I think the ability of the installer enters into some of the unsatisfactory installations.

Greetings, POWERSTROKE!

Regarding the Pertronix Solid State Ignition conversions, the instructions include with them are easy to follow, and the only reason that there should be any complaints with these conversions is that the installation instructions were not followed. Personally, I installed a Pertronix conversion on an IHC Super H Farmall for a friend of mine, and he is extremely pleased with the outcome of that installation. I would have no problem installing a Pertronix conversion on any of the older GM applications. Pertronix is far superior to the old point and condenser set ups of years gone by!

[Funky61]

This was on a 62 I saw and my first time seeing one. It has a button for conventional or CDI. I remember Heath Kits but I thought they just did radios.