I'll Try Lectric Limited Breakerless SE This Summerr

[Paul L.]

Re: I'll Try Lectric Limited Breakerless SE This Summerr

Paul,

I am surprised you had any problem with the installation, can you post a pic of the soldered wire you describe as problematic. The instructions with mine were clear as a bell. Going from memory, there may be a sentence about lifting/bending the soldered ground wire up out of the way so the module sits flat on the contact plate and I don't think I even had to do that. Also, a little clip to hold the ground wire from interfering with the shutter wheel.

I believe the breakerless will work with any stock coil through a ballast resistor or resistor wire like used on your car, where is the problem, get a coil from NAPA and save $$.

Randal, when you installed the breakerless on your car after the Petronics, did the car run any different. I bet not as it only takes so much voltage to jump a spark, the rest is reserve. IMHO the Petronics is HIPED up to much. This multi spark Petronics 3, well lets just say I had problems with setting inital timing.

As things turned out that ground wire did not interfere with the module but this Board seems to turn off editing after so many (?) hours so I could not correct.

If you look at this pic you will see a round impression between the two vanes. That is where I believe a connector was located. I say "believe" because it was so covered in solder that I could not tell. It is obviously now gone with a little persuasion. It was probably a legitimate breaker plate ground but in doing my reading I was led to believe the ground lead wire goes from the vacuum canister to the screw at the back of the plate (condensor mount) where it now is. I don't think any harm has been done....

I am not happy with that back connector and will get a proper ground wire from NAPA (#ECH LW42) next week.



After some more research on the internet this pic shows what I had. I probably made a mistake knocking it off but the ground at the rear of the breaker plate will probably do the job as well.

[Paul L.]

Re: I'll Try Lectric Limited Breakerless SE This Summerr

Has any one noticed whether the pickup stays perfectly centered or maintains the same gap to the chopper wheel? Reason I ask, long ago I used a Prestolite "Hall Effect" unit conversion kit which had a diecast chopper wheel and the pickup was mounted in a sort of plastic material and was adjustable to center it within the chopper. When you would spin the rotor slowly you could notice the gap vary from one chopper blade to the next. now it may not have meant anything, but it concerned me. To me the Lectric Limited device looks even less substantial than that old Prestolite unit (from Montgomery Wards). The Prestolite was also standard equipment on American Motors V8's in the 70's/80's. It had an Epoxy encapsolated remote electronic unit with two wires. The wires into the distributor were prone to getting stiff and brittle and would hand up the vacuum advance plate. I replaced them with silicone jacketed wires to cure that problem. The external wiring used pin type inline connections which would break internally and shut you down. Hitting it with 12 volts on restart would get you going again until the next bump in the road.

What did I learn; 1) watch what kind of wire(s) are used to the pickup to be certain they are not going to get hard on you in time and hang up your vacuum advance plate. 2) 12 volt input systems (w/o ballast resistor) are more likely to overcome a bad connection than 8 volts, and make sure you have good connections, i.e. well crimped or soldered faston connectors.

The above info is why I chose the Pertronix II for my conversion.

Stu Fox

The vanes or blades are not perfectly centered on the module but the gap is consistent throughout all as the shaft is spun. I did not see that slight off-center position as a concern. There is no adjustment.

[Timothy B.]

Re: I'll Try Lectric Limited Breakerless SE This Summerr

Paul,

You need to replace that breaker plate ground wire and solder it back where it was.

The wire that attaches to the module is from the coil negative, the module controls the switiching and grounds to the breaker plate by it's attaching screws. The breaker plate grounds through the soldered wire to the distributor housing by the vacuum advance. This then grounds back to the battery through the engine..

Look at the pics in this post..

https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthread.php?t=69728

[Paul L.]

Re: I'll Try Lectric Limited Breakerless SE This Summerr

Paul,

You need to replace that breaker plate ground wire and solder it back where it was.

The wire that attaches to the module is from the coil negative, the module controls the switiching and grounds to the breaker plate by it's attaching screws. The breaker plate grounds through the soldered wire to the distributor housing by the vacuum advance. This then grounds back to the battery through the engine..

Look at the pics in this post..

https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthread.php?t=69728

I burned the solder off the original connector today and can see what it is. I can do that but why would the back end ground not work?

[Jim R.]

Re: I'll Try Lectric Limited Breakerless SE This Summerr

I put one in my 65 365hp about 5 years ago and love it, the car has alway's run great , if i remember right i called LL beacause i had to shorten two of the screws, but other than that it was a piece of cake to install. still not sure why but they interfeared with the bottom plate for some reason.

[Timothy B.]

Re: I'll Try Lectric Limited Breakerless SE This Summerr

Paul,

I guess it will work but I suggest replacing it with a soldered connection. This is a very important ground and it needs a good connection, anything less and the car will be sick and you can bet it will happen when you least expect it. That plate moves back and forth to advance/retard timing which is why many ground wires are cracked.

From the looks of that wire it needs to be changed anyway and it's a good idea to read up on distributor maintainance. Clean, lube and check the alignment of the tach gear to be sure it's not wearing into the distributor housing, install a new wire and solder it back where it's supposed to go.

[Paul L.]

Re: I'll Try Lectric Limited Breakerless SE This Summerr

Paul,

I guess it will work but I suggest replacing it with a soldered connection. This is a very important ground and it needs a good connection, anything less and the car will be sick and you can bet it will happen when you least expect it. That plate moves back and forth to advance/retard timing which is why many ground wires are cracked.

From the looks of that wire it needs to be changed anyway and it's a good idea to read up on distributor maintainance. Clean, lube and check the alignment of the tach gear to be sure it's not wearing into the distributor housing, install a new wire and solder it back where it's supposed to go.

I've pretty much decided to get a new breaker plate (with ground wire attached) for $21.00 and not risk a road breakdown that would be $100 minimum. That distributor was rebuilt and the tach drive is well lubed. Live and learn!

Strangely the attachment point of the ground wire on mine was on the top of the plate. The pics from the various vendors show it on the bottom??

*Edit*- Parts for the top-end rebuild to complement the Breakerless SE have been ordered from Paragon.

[Joe C.]

Re: I'll Try Lectric Limited Breakerless SE This Summerr

I've pretty much decided to get a new breaker plate (with ground wire attached) for $21.00 and not risk a road breakdown that would be $100 minimum. That distributor was rebuilt and the tach drive is well lubed. Live and learn!

Strangely the attachment point of the ground wire on mine was on the top of the plate. The pics from the various vendors show it on the bottom??

That's the smart choice.
You know that if that wire isn't attached in exactly the right place, and in the proper orientation, the constant movement of the breaker plate during vac advance cycling will cause it to quickly fatigue and break. Copper wire is especially prone to this.

The Breakerless SE is the clear cut winner for distributor upgrade. It is elegantly simple and provides extraordinary voltage consistency up through 10,000 RPM.

[Paul L.]

Re: I'll Try Lectric Limited Breakerless SE This Summerr

That's the smart choice.
You know that if that wire isn't attached in exactly the right place, and in the proper orientation, the constant movement of the breaker plate during vac advance cycling will cause it to quickly fatigue and break. Copper wire is especially prone to this.

The Breakerless SE is the clear cut winner for distributor upgrade. It is elegantly simple and provides extraordinary voltage consistency up through 10,000 RPM.

I hope so. I was tempted by those Chinese distributor $89.95 (or even less) units on EBay for the whole darn thing with tach drive but I said no. So I went with Breakerless Se at $159.00. Wise decision (?), perhaps not. The Chinese units seem to work well according to on-line reports. Whether we like it or not those guys seem to be good.

[Paul L.]

Re: I'll Try Lectric Limited Breakerless SE This Summerr

Looks like the old girl will be coming home from winter storage on April 9. I will be changing out the old intake manifold and Q-Jet with a re-done set complete with all new emissions equipment. The TCS will be present but disabled. I will retain manifold vacuum near the choke assembly as I did last year. As there will not be a dwell with the Breakerless SE, do I just set the timing at ~8* BTDC static? Or use my old Sears timing light to get ~36 at ~2,500rpm? The vacuum can is a new B26.

Ignore hosing in pic.

[John H.]

Re: I'll Try Lectric Limited Breakerless SE This Summerr

As there will not be a dwell with the Breakerless SE, do I just set the timing at ~8* BTDC static? Or use my old Sears timing light to get ~36 at ~2,500rpm? The vacuum can is a new B26.

Paul -

Your timing routine is the same as it was before - you just don't need to set the dwell first; nothing else changes.