Welcome to Atari STeve's Unofficial Pertronix Page
Disclaimer: Neither I, nor anyone I know, do not now, or have at any time in the past, worked for or represented Pertronix in any way. I am just a satisfied customer.
Background on the decision for the V8
For IH V8 engine owners - Here's what I did
Background on the decision for the 4 cyl
For 4 cyl engine owners - Here's what I did
I own a 1974 Scout II with a 345 V8, that has the infamous Gold Box and Holley distributor. The second winter I owned it, the Gold Box started to give me problems. It would just quit, while cruising down the freeway. Sometimes it would start running again all by itself before I could pull over. Sometimes it would start right before pulling over when I cranked the engine. Sometimes I would have to pull over and wait a few seconds or minutes until it would start back up. Sometimes it would do this 3 or 4 times in my 45 mile, one way commute.
I called around to different Scout suppliers and got varied responses as to what I should do. One place said to replace it with a Mallory Unilite. Another said to put in an IH points distributor. Another suggested a Mallory Dual Point setup. One said to just go down to NAPA and get a replacement Gold Box. One supplier told me that they got their Gold Box and pickup from the people that made them for International Harvester. The Mallory setups, either the Unilite or Dual Point, are pretty expensive propositions, so I decided to get the IH parts from the vendor that said they got them from the original manufacturer. I replaced the gold box and pickup assembly. The Scout ran fine . . . until the next year as soon as the cold wet weather started again. The Scout would just cut out and die whenever it felt like it, just like before.
So, I started looking for another alternative. I determined that my choices were:
1-Keep on replacing the gold box and pickup assembly once a year. Not acceptable.
2-Swap in a Mallory Unilite distributor. However, this would mean carrying another unilite assembly in the glovebox at all times as it might quit out in the middle of nowhere. I don't think so.
3-Swap in a Mallory Dual point distributor. Better, but I really would like electronic ignition in my Scout.
4-Swap in a points distributor out of another earlier Scout. Again, I would like electronic ignition.
5-Swap in a Mallory Dual point distributor, and upgrade the distributor with a Unilite module. Sounded great.
6-Swap in a points distributor out of another earlier Scout, and upgrade with an aftermarket electronic ignition.
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I ordered the Mallory Dual point distributor from a mail order speed shop, and they told me that my plan was doable (is doable a word ?). Of course the distributor is over $200.00, and the Unilite upgrade is another $100.00+. After a couple weeks, the distributor still hadn't arrived, so I called the mail order firm and they told me that Mallory didn't have any in stock but would be making a production run soon. My instincts told me to call Mallory directly and see when they would be doing their next run of IH dual point distributors. Glad I did. I told the Mallory rep what I had in mind, and he told me that the IH dual point distributor could not be upgraded with the Unilite module. Argh. I cancelled my order for the Mallory, and reconsidered my options. I called around and found a points type Scout distributor and bought a Pertronix ignition unit. The Pertronix cost $80.00. I keep the points in my glovebox. The Pertronix works flawlessly. I eventually want to have the distributor recurved to match the old curve. End result is I have electronic ignition all the time with a backup of points, just in case I need them, at a decent overall cost.
Installation takes 5 to 10 minutes and then check the timing. That's it !
The two illustrations below are the before and after instructions, for installing the Pertronix unit in a Scout II with a 345 V8.
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Having a Pertronix unit on my Scout II, and being satisfied with it, I turned my attention to the 1965 Scout 80. Since I had previously gotten a catalogue, I looked through it for a kit for my 80. However I didn't find anything listed for the 4 cyl. I called Pertronix, and they told me they didn't make a unit for the 4 cyl engine. I went out and looked at the distributor a little more closely, wondering if I couldn't modify something to work. After looking at the distributor more closely, I noticed that all it is, is a Chevy small block style distributor, shortened for the IH, with four towers of the distributor cap blocked off. The rotor, points and condenser all looked like standard small block Chevy ignition parts. The answer was easy. If I was wrong, I was out $80.00, but if I was right, I would have electronic ignition in the 80. I bought a Pertronix unit, made for a small block Chevy, did my modification, and have been using it ever since. Works like a champ. Details of the modification and installation are given below.
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What you are looking at here is a scan of the underside of the distributor rotor (the greenish looking part) with the Pertronix magnet ring (the bluish part) attached to it. The rotor is a standard small block Chevy rotor. You can see the square peg and round peg that go into the aligning holes on the top of the mechanical advance portion of the distributor.
Normally, the rotor is held in place by two screws that go through the top of the rotor and screw into the mechanical advance portion of the distributor. The bluish looking ring is the Pertronix magnet ring that has two threaded posts on top of it, that go up through the mechanical advance portion of the distributor and then up through the two holes in the rotor. You then fasten a nut on each post and tighten down the rotor to the distributor. This is shown in the "Before" and "After", drawing located below.
The blue line is pointing to one of the four holes where magnets were. The red line is pointing to one of the remaining four magnets. The original 8 magnets are held in their square holes with some type of adhesive clear plastic, like clear contact paper.
Here's what I did. I installed the magnet ring and rotor in the distributor. I then bumped the motor over until the rotor pointed to the tower that went to the #1 cyl. I marked the edge of the ring at the spot right above the pickup ( like item 9 shown above, in the illustration of the unit I installed in my 74 Scout II ). I removed the magnet ring and located the magnet right next to the place I had marked. This magnet and every other magnet, were the ones I needed in order to trigger the ignition properly. I then took an Exacto knife and very carefully cut out the other four magnets, being careful to remove just enough clear plastic to remove each of the four uneeded magnets. I reinstalled the magnet ring, rotor and pickup, and static timed it. It started right up. I adjusted the timing and then I was done. It runs great.
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