I mentioned in my last post that the car had a bit of a starting issue which is now cured with a replacement Pertronix Ignitor system from Mustang Maniac. To avoid such instances again I have a back up plan.
The new plan is to have a set of old school points to hand in case of the electronic points breaking down. I ordered a metal tin, I was going to get an old tobacco tin, but decided against it and went for a nice new shiny one instead.
To hold the new points and condenser I got some chunk of polystyrene and cut it to size and pressed it into the tin. As the cable to the points was removed as I replaced it with the Pertronix set up. I made a new cable one with fresh connections and soldered while I was at it. I then marked out the shape of the points and cut it out with a sharp scalpel. I didn’t take any pictures at the time as I wasn’t sure how it was going to come out or if it even would work.
As the polystyrene is a bit brittle I leaves little bits everywhere so I sealed it with a good few layers of clean PVA glue. To stop damage to the components I got a thin foam padding and lined the cut out as well and stuck that into place. The wires were held in place my a shallow cut out groove. The last part was a set of feeler gauges to set them once they were held in place. The mini kit is then all held firmly in place and doesn’t move at a all. Just to be sure I added a little cut out to lay on top.
The lid has now got a printed out label (along with a spare sticker I had), for the gap setting in case I have to use the kit. Even if the points only last me enough mileage to get me home in an emergency – then it’s gob done. I can easily replace the the points with another set which costs less than shop bought sandwich!
The tin looked a little plain on the outside so I have ordered a little Ford Parts sticker to go on the top.
Under the hood I decided that I wanted to replace the HT cable tidies or clips. I wanted something a little more meaty rather than the thin plastic clips. I ordered online a set of v8 plug clips for the 8mm cables I have. There are two four hole, 2 three hole and two hole clips one set for each side. These normally go by the spark plugs to keep them neat and tidy. As I already have a nice polished cable set holder, these were going to be a little more visible.
Me being me wasn’t happy with the finish of the screw heads, they were a bit dull and cheap looking, not how I like them to look.
The next step was to get my trusty ol’ Dremmel out with some metal polish and the appropriate felt buffing attachment. A simple case of a little polish and buff over, they came out nice and shiny.
The before and after is quite obvious and now up to my OCD standards.
Fitting these style of clamps is very simple, it’s just a case of clamping the two halves around the cables and screwing together.
Will anybody notice the difference? Probably not, but I know they are there. They also do the important job of keeping the cables neat and tidy and routed where they need to go cleanly and out of the way.
Following on from the last post I have been asked if I had the fitting instructions of the Pertronix II Ignitor kit. I do and I have added the PDF file here.
A short little post, but I’m just looking for things to do now. I need a car show or two to get me out of the house and some fresh air and a change of scenery. Already this year 2021 we have had two car shows cancelled and it’s only January. 🙁
As always, I love the attention to detail.
Thanks. 👍
Very resourceful, what do you do if the part you need is no longer stocked anywhere do you have to have them specially made or can you always find them online?
Hi Charlotte, us mustang owners are a lucky bunch. We can get almost everything we will ever need, from single bolt or washers to floors or body panel parts. People still recondition the engines and gearboxes so a lot of the time it’s as simple as unbolt the old and bolt in the new. Some people even have the original parts from the 60’s still in boxes for sale now and again. They tend to command a lot of money though. Most of the parts come from the USA, the sheet metal parts tend to come from China and then stocked here in the UK. This generation of car don’t need laptops to fix them either. Being a USA car the tools are imperial like 5/16 or 3/8 or 1/2″ and not the modern metric sizes in mm. That means I have lots of expensive tools for the Mustang and another set of tools for the Smart car and Honda CR-v we have. A man can never have enough tools. 👍😉
One thing I’m curious about: Did you add a ballast resistor to the wire for the points? I assume you bypassed that so that the Pertronix gets a full 12 volts, and it is my understanding that it would likely fry the points, though I am not sure if it does so instantly or over time.
Edit: Also I really dig the tin. Nice and tidy \m/
Hi Jerry, thanks for the comment. As for the points I don’t have a ballast resistor in place as it was removed/bypassed by the pertronix. I suspect that my coil which is 45,000v and 0.6ohm it will trash the points. The only reason I will carry the points is an emergency use. The condenser is also new and should take a lot of the strain. I don’t tend to do many long trips in the car so maybe 100 miles max to get home. If they only last that long to get me home then it’s job done. Buy a new set after just in case. The whole thing including points, tin and sticker was £25. 👍
That’s my comment above should have been Automotive American but used the wrong account 😀
No problem, thanks for both comments. Did you want me to remove it for you?
I went back to points on my old jalopy after a couple of issues on Pertronix. Most likely earth issues with mine not so much the product, might go back at some point when I do the carb and inlet
It seems as though the pertronix ignitor II have had a few issues. Let’s hope they fixed it since I bought my first set. I have not heard of may ignitor 3s breaking down though. Pertronix does make the car run better for sure, and you don’t have to worry about the timing. From my recent research they don’t like messed with voltage wise and they recommend disconnecting the battery if you do. I haven’t done that in the past so perhaps I spiked and damaged it somehow?