Jump to content

buick straight eight with electronic ignition ?


Guest buickkuhn

Recommended Posts

Guest buickkuhn

I have been looking at the electronic ignition for my 248 (small straight eight) engine , but have not found all the people out there using it . If you have used it with 6 volt system and noticed the differences that is described by "cars inc " . ----- DistributorNow available for the Vintage Buick

Straight 8 is the high performance DUI

Distributor! This high powered ignition

will light the fire in the straight 8 like

never before. Built with our popular

Street Strip DUI Coil, you can open the

plug gaps to a massive .055”! Also

included is the high dwell Dyna-Module

which allows the coil to produce a longer duration spark

over stock ignitions. The advance curve is custom tuned to

provide the most power throughout the RPM range with no

pre-detonation. Additional benefits are quicker starting,

smoother idle and it is all electronic - NO POINTS!

Installation is easy with only one wire required for hookup

Bring your straight 8 up to date by adding some serious

firepower with the DUI! Comes with easy to follow

instructions and is backed by a one year warranty.

• Simple One Wire Hookup

• Allows for Wider Plug Gaps

• All Electronic Ignition - No Points

• 50,000 Volt Coil and Dyna Module

• Performance Tuned Advance Curve

• Increased Horsepower and Fuel Mileage

1938-1953 248, 263, 320 engines.

DUI383 .............................................................$395.00 ea.---- I guess trying to find out how many are in use and if you like it as a option to convert to it ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest buickkuhn

I was just letting my mind wander towards a different path , the original distributor needs the vacuum advance changed out and or find a recon one that I can install . I am doing most of my searching now so when I am rebuilding this winter I stay on track with the objective at hand . then finish it ... Thank you for the input I am going to be just driving it plus groceries and picking the kids up from school also .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is your choice to make, and now is the time to make that choice:

If you change even small things like 12 Volt wiring & ignition or use radial tires, you loose some of the original experience of restoring & driving an old Buick. It then becomes easier to make more changes, and someday you may come to realize you made a resto-mod.

I have made very few changes to my cars because I enjoy the experience of restoring & driving original Buicks. I do have cars that were modified before I acquired them (1924 Buick Pickup Truck) or because there was not enough of the car left to restore it (1915 Buick Speedster). Everyone enjoys this hobby for their own reasons. I actually appreciate those in the hobby who build resto-rods and modified cars because they provide a source of parts to restore my cars. My only concern is loosing restorable original cars forever.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest buickkuhn

No . that is my brain thinking that something may be better then reality kicks in and my thinking is right along yours . Original as can be with my wallet tagging along for the ride .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest buickkuhn

I have a feeling that the points are going to last a lot longer once the motor is rebuilt ,since it is going to have more even compression and less valve leakage . I might even get more than a year out of a set of plugs . I am dreaming of the day that the motor is rebuilt ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The original design, when properly maintained, worked just fine on my '34 Buick for the past 80 years, and 77 years on my '37.

Why mess with a good thing, especially since the original can be adjusted on the road. The electronic unit cannot be "TINKERED" with into adjustment when it does fail.

just one guy's opinion - it is your car - do what suits you..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Try and understand how and why electronic ignition all started. In Buick's and all of GM it first appeared in 1975, why? Because that is the first year of cars with catalytic converters. If a car with conventional ignition should loose the tip of a spark plug electrode or burn away the ground strap of a spark plug due to improper maintenance or a spark plug wire internally gets a open circuit due to heat exposure or age a car with a catalytic converter would overheat due to a misfire. HEI was designed to help overcome poor maintenance or ignition failure to keep the converter from overheating. In a normal car with or without electronic ignition it only takes 8-10 KV to jump the gap of a spark plug. On a conventional point distributor if you pulled a spark plug wire with the engine running and the distributor hooked up to a oscilloscope and slowly moved the wire near to ground where the spark actually first jumps to ground a normal conventional coil will produce up to about 30KV. A electronic ignition in the same circumstance can in some instances produce 50+ KV. I have seen a engine with what seemed like a normal smooth idle have a huge spark line on one cylinder on a oscilloscope and found the spark plug to that cylinder have a missing or burnt off electrode and ground. A car with a conventional point / coil system could not produce that kind of spark to overcome that huge gap the result would be a misfire and raw air fuel mixture dumped into the exhaust and if a converter was in the exhaust would cause a converter to overheat.

Remember, it only takes 8-10 KV to fire a spark plug under normal usage and both systems will do the job with no problem.

Remember this also, just because if you decide to use electronic ignition it does NOT mean your system is maintenance free. You still must periodically clean the mechanical advance weights and lube them and check operation, Check the distributor shaft for bushing soundness, check the cap and rotor for wear, make sure your vacuum advance is working properly. If you have a car with a electronic module in the distributor like GM HEI, then you must remove the module, clean the old dialectic grease from the mating surface on the module and the distributor mounting plate and re-grease ( should be done once a year regardless of mileage ) If not done it cause the module to overheat , the grease transfers heat from the module to the plate. On a car with points the only thing different is changing the points and condenser, lubricating the cam and setting the Point dwell instead of the module cleaning and lubricating.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest buickkuhn

All good points to be taken , Keeping the car 6 volt and now keeping the distributor original - will be in the market looking at recon vacuum advances .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest bobgould
I have been looking at the electronic ignition for my 248 (small straight eight) engine , but have not found all the people out there using it . If you have used it with 6 volt system and noticed the differences that is described by "cars inc " . ----- DistributorNow available for the Vintage Buick

Straight 8 is the high performance DUI

Distributor! This high powered ignition

will light the fire in the straight 8 like

never before. Built with our popular

Street Strip DUI Coil, you can open the

plug gaps to a massive .055”! Also

included is the high dwell Dyna-Module

which allows the coil to produce a longer duration spark

over stock ignitions. The advance curve is custom tuned to

provide the most power throughout the RPM range with no

pre-detonation. Additional benefits are quicker starting,

smoother idle and it is all electronic - NO POINTS!

Installation is easy with only one wire required for hookup

Bring your straight 8 up to date by adding some serious

firepower with the DUI! Comes with easy to follow

instructions and is backed by a one year warranty.

• Simple One Wire Hookup

• Allows for Wider Plug Gaps

• All Electronic Ignition - No Points

• 50,000 Volt Coil and Dyna Module

• Performance Tuned Advance Curve

• Increased Horsepower and Fuel Mileage

1938-1953 248, 263, 320 engines.

DUI383 .............................................................$395.00 ea.---- I guess trying to find out how many are in use and if you like it as a option to convert to it ?

I have two 6 volt buicks a 1939 and a 1953 both still 6volt with pertronics, very simple to install and very reliable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm going to put the Petronius in my 40 180 packard due to the price of the points, over 100 for a set if you can find them.

the price to tune my 32 66s is under 75 for points plugs condenser cap and rotor and they are all easy to get so won't be changing it out for a long time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm going to put the Petronius in my 40 180 packard due to the price of the points, over 100 for a set if you can find them.

the price to tune my 32 66s is under 75 for points plugs condenser cap and rotor and they are all easy to get so won't be changing it out for a long time.

Try going to your local parts store and see if they will work with you to find a set of similar points from other types of vehicles that will work or could be modified to work. I think you'll be surprised how easy and cheaper this fix can be than to replace with original points or adding electronic ignition.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest bobgould

the best things I feel about pertronics are there is no cam lobe load, not having to worry about slightly worn dist shaft bushings ,no adjustments needed to compensate for lobe wear, timing is constant, hotter spark, no more points, and points start to wear out the minute you put them in. and the best part it works with your old coil and 6 volt system.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have just scraped my 6v pertronix and gone back to points. Pertronix only operate between 4 - 8volt. Often I only had 3.8v on the coil due to effect loss through the relays, wiring etc and I couldn't start. When the battery ran down trying I couldn't jump start from a 12v car. But other than that they were great

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

I had a Petronix ignition installed into my 1939 Buick and have had NOTHING BUT TROUBLE.  Nobody knows the correct spark plug or spark plug setting.  I as advised to use R47S plugs set to .045 gap.  No such thing as an R47S plug.  I have bought a second set of spark plug wires that are made to order, since the cut to fit wires were incorrectly done by the mechanic.  I have bought a Petronix coil since the car wouldn't run hot with either of two coils I had.  Can anybody identify the proper plug and gap?  The car originally uses AC-46 plugs set to .028.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since 3 years I have also a Pertronix inside my oem Distributor, runs great , stops at last the pain with alltime problems with fast worn out (china-) points and burned throu condenser  ..

It have a much better steady idle and a  smoother run up to the higher revs.I have a 263 with much more comp ratio , run with a bosch blue coil without resistor. I run a .30 gap with AC 45 plugs and have a perfect brown colour. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have used Pertronix on my 50's V8's, and I found it ran better, and I used the stock .035 setting for plugs. You could not go too wrong by setting the gap to the stock setting.

I am interested in this thread too, as I would like to put an electronic ignition on my '41 Roadmaster as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've put 2 pertronix units on my 41 in 5 months and it's been laid up the garage for the last 6 weeks waiting for a "custom" built Ignitor module from pertronix. The car has new wiring and everything meets or exceeds their recommendations for it to work. It's 12v negative ground, Ignitor #1183 and their epoxy filled coil. The second time it happened I called them up and they wanted me to send in the dead module. Two weeks after I sent it in I called and asked what was going on. Apparently the sensor that picks up the magnets spinning by it gave out. Their solution is to build a module with a "better quality" sensor just for my car. While I'm happy that they're trying to solve the issue it is annoying as I assumed I was buying a quality product to start with. Currently I'm still waiting for the replacement module, it was supposed to be here over a week ago.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think the Pertronix units are actually built for 6-volt systems. Yes, they'll technically work (sometimes), but they're very sensitive to voltage. Even on, say, a Mustang, which uses a resistor wire to drop voltage to the ignition to about 8 volts, they can have problems if you power it from the coil instead of a direct 12V source. 6V exaggerates the problem.

 

I like the Pertronix units for 12 volt cars and use one in my wife's Mustang (powered by the ignition switch), but I don't think I would use one on a 6V car regardless of what "special" unit they whipped up or what kind of coil they recommend. Points and condenser probably still work best and don't care about voltage drops.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...