Electronic Ignition for my 1960 FI

[Markus S.]

I am planning to upgrade my C1 '60 fulie with the best electronic ignition system on the market to fit into my old distributor. This as a first step to get it to fire reliably on all cylinders. If still bad performance I'll get the Rochester ...320 FI restored. If still unreliable I'll try my friends advice to get carbs and after that ...?
Who can give me a recommendation on the best electronic ignition solution ?
Many thanks ! Markus

[Jack H.]

Re: Electronic Ignition for my 1960 FI

There are MANY prior threads on this in the archives which you can search and peruse. But, quite a few of us like the Breakerless SE system manufactured by M&H and sold by quite a few including Lectric Limited.

Note: For this to install and work on your car, you need to have the factory original FI distributor with either a D-308 or D-324, lift window points adjusting cap...

[Bruce B.]

Re: Electronic Ignition for my 1960 FI

Look into a Pertronix system.
I have had one in my 62 340HP car for 12 years with NO problems.

[Bob H.]

Re: Electronic Ignition for my 1960 FI

I agree. The Pertronics SINGLE WIRE set is the way to go. Easy install and uses stock coil. Can't tell it's installed unless you remove the cap. I believe it is made by M&H

[Bruce B.]

Re: Electronic Ignition for my 1960 FI

Pertronix is actually manufactured by Pertronix Inc.
Made in U.S.A.

[Bob H.]

Re: Electronic Ignition for my 1960 FI

oops. I have used both with great success.

[Jim L.]

Re: Electronic Ignition for my 1960 FI

This as a first step to get it to fire reliably on all cylinders. If still bad performance I'll get the Rochester ...320 FI restored. If still unreliable I'll try my friends advice to get carbs and after that ...?

I'll be the contrarian here. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a points type ignition system.

To get your engine firing on all cylinders, focus on first principles: Make sure your plugs, plug wires, distributor cap, rotor, condenser, and points are all in good condition.

If, after checking and replacing these things, you still don't have all 8 cylinders participating equally, then it might be time to look at the FI unit.

But first, focus on the basics.

There is NO reason to replace the FI unit with carburetors just to get all 8 cylinders going. None. Zip. Zero.

Jim

[Patrick H.]

Re: Electronic Ignition for my 1960 FI

I'll be the contrarian here. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a points type ignition system.

To get your engine firing on all cylinders, focus on first principles: Make sure your plugs, plug wires, distributor cap, rotor, condenser, and points are all in good condition.

If, after checking and replacing these things, you still don't have all 8 cylinders participating equally, then it might be time to look at the FI unit.

But first, focus on the basics.

There is NO reason to replace the FI unit with carburetors just to get all 8 cylinders going. None. Zip. Zero.

Jim

I'll agree with Jim - and one of my cars even has a Pertronix system.
There is a reason that you can't get your car to run as you'd like it to run. I'd suggest that you are best off figuring out that reason before you go about replacing parts without knowing "why" or "how" a change will help - or hurt - what you're doing.

I think that the ignition parts in my 72 (cap, rotor, points, condenser) are probably 25 years old. The wires are repros installed in 2000 with new AC plugs as well. No problems at all in that car. Just removed cap, rotor, points and condenser as well as wires from another 72 that were installed in 1984 - and the car ran fine despite the fact that the points and rotor were "not good quality" and the distributor cap was cracked. However, I'm not about to let the owner have it back after I've worked on it for 9 months and have it quit on him, so I replaced them with high quality parts.

Don't be afraid to ask specific questions so that we can help you get your car running right!

Patrick

[Markus S.]

Re: Electronic Ignition for my 1960 FI

Thank you all very much. Your feedback in invaluable, really appreciated.
I'll keep you posted what made the trick.
Best
Markus

[William F.]

Re: Electronic Ignition for my 1960 FI

Problem is, the higher compression engines-11:1 like L-79 won't fire plugs after a few hundred miles on new plugs(misses) unless you have a hotter than standard spark in my experience. I went to an MSD multi spark box triggered by a Pertronix point replacement on last L79 I had.Has anyone tried the new Pertronix3 which has multi spark and point replacement trigger combined within the stock distributor-sounds good if it works?

William Ford

[Bruce B.]

Re: Electronic Ignition for my 1960 FI

My 62 Corvette 340 HP is 11.25 to 1 compression and ran fine for years on stock points and coil. With the Pertronix and stock coil it runs better but as someone stated previously point type systems have run well for years.

[Donald L.]

Re: Electronic Ignition for my 1960 FI

Not to get into a debate about electronic vs. point ignition but the trick to a good running point ignition system is optimizing the ignition map, blueprinting the distributor to factory specs and using HD quality ignition parts.

[Duke W.]

Re: Electronic Ignition for my 1960 FI

Agree with the above. The key to a properly functioning ignition system is, first of all, a properly functioning distributor, and even new some distributors were so sloppily assembled, they didn't work, but a few shims will take care of that. Next is plug wires that meet spec and one heat range hotter spark plug than OE.

Trying to solve a "problem" by re-engineering the system is a ticket to nowwhere. Fix the OE system and it will work just fine.

All the details are in the archives.

Duke

[John H.]

Re: Electronic Ignition for my 1960 FI

Problem is, the higher compression engines-11:1 like L-79 won't fire plugs after a few hundred miles on new plugs(misses) unless you have a hotter than standard spark in my experience.

I've never heard of such a thing (except in the marketing hype for electronic conversions) - I've had 11:1 small-blocks for decades, and they run like gangbusters with properly set up OEM stock ignition systems and correctly-selected heat range spark plugs. Don't drink the Kool-Aid...

[Jim L.]

Re: Electronic Ignition for my 1960 FI

Problem is, the higher compression engines-11:1 like L-79 won't fire plugs after a few hundred miles on new plugs(misses) unless you have a hotter than standard spark in my experience.

The engine in my vintage racer has 11.7:1 compression and, in the spirit of vintage racing, I run points. They are so reliable and work so well that I get a couple of thousand track miles out of a set.

Jim