Are you kidding me...

Points Ignition?

Posted October 14 2009 05:53 AM by John Cappa
Filed under: Editorials, Jeep Enthusiast Culture, John Cappa

What kind of demented individual invented points ignition?

I've never really had to mess with them much, yeah, I know, I'm a younun. But geez, is it even possible to get them working perfectly, ever? And then right about the time you do get them to work somewhat, you leave the ignition on and fry them! Ugh. I've been fumbling with the ignition in my flat rod .Mostly because on the way home from the Off-Road Expo I stunk like unburned fuel from the exhaust of the poorly running engine (I fried the points, again). I think I got it set right now but those suckers are coming out pronto. 1970's and electronic ignition here I come. I just bought a Pertronix.

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Reader Comments:

1. Did the new ignition double the price of the build to date?

DirtyHarry - Posted October 14 2009 11:12 AM

2. Upgrading the ignition is a good idea since matchbooks are not as plentiful as they used to be.

Logdog - Posted October 14 2009 01:24 PM

3. did you have to pull the radiator and grill to work on the points? haha

cgreenwood - Posted October 14 2009 07:31 PM

4. I'll go one further... distributors suck.

Jp Web Editor - Posted October 15 2009 08:41 AM

5. To answer the leading question. A very smart, individual. They had not any further advanced technology at the turn of the century. Besides, they may not work "perfectly", but they can be filled down and made to work in a pinch. E.G: on the trail. Where as an malfunctioning electronic ignition is far more complicated.

TheJeeper - Posted October 15 2009 03:22 PM

6. Oh, well thank you Captain Obvious. Ya know, people say that kind of thing all the time but the truth of the matter is that I've fried lots of points in my life and I've never lost an electronic ignition, ever. Perhaps if we continue the tradition we could point out the advantages of a rotary phone over a push button.

John Cappa - Posted October 15 2009 05:57 PM

7. Did you use a tach and dwell to set your points? I have not been so unfortunate enough to mess with a points ignition. I just remember when I was a kid my dad had to replace the points in the distributor of our old Dodge about once a year, maybe twice. However, he had a tach and dwell he used to do it. I now have this and I have the book for it. It's a pretty interesting tool.

HANS322 - Posted October 16 2009 05:20 AM

8. Damn. I saw the Rod at the Expo. But, you actually DROVE it back to your place from there?? I didn't think it was streetable yet..

sduncan86 - Posted October 18 2009 02:30 PM

9. I run points in my 401 in the J4X...that's my 4-door J-truck you guys have published TWICE in your reader's rigs stuff- Thanx much, I feel honored!

The irony comes in when you consider I wrote an article as to why the stock Delco points distributor in a AMC V8 is BETTER than the Motorcraft/Duraspark E.I. system and the Prestolite system...but that was in another Jeep mag.

I do have to set the dwell -.016", or 30 degrees out of the vehicle, then install the thing. I also have to replace the points about every 8-10,000miles - no biggy. I also run no vacuum advance, and the centrifugal curve is about perfect for my driving in a 9.5:1 CR, 407 running on 91 octane.

I believe Mallory and some others sell a magnetic or UniLite-type retro kit for the Delco dizzy. Never used one though.

And, I don't have any smog provisions on my truck...so I can get away with all this. So -nyah...nyah.

Tinkerjeep - Posted October 18 2009 05:14 PM

10. BTW I saw pics of the "finished" rod in your mid-Sept blogs. Cool! My 7-year-old-son likes it too! You think you'll ever put big gnarly meats on the rear and skinnier ones up front? Think - of the dually Swampers on the rear of the Batmobile and the WTH-tires it has on the front...? Maybe keeping with the "vintage look -12"-wide Groundhawgs out back and 7.5"-wide X-tra Grips up front?

Tinkerjeep - Posted October 18 2009 06:24 PM

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