Re: [MV] Mil Veh ignitions - Pertronix kit, retrofit, etc.

Alan Bowes (inbox@todacosa.com)
Wed, 07 Apr 1999 12:53:47 -0600

I've retrofitted an M37 distributor with a Pertronix kit, and it seems to
bench test just fine, although I haven't tried it on a vehicle yet. NOTE that
I had to do some customizing, including custom-fitting a magnet ring to slide
over the M37 distributor cam, installing a small resistor to drop the 24-28V
down to the 12-14V range for the control circuit supply in the Pertronix
sensor, and drilling/tapping the breaker plate to accept the sensor.

I think the switching transistor in the Pertronix unit can handle switching
the 24V with no problem, as long as you use the stock 12-ohm ignition coil
and not one of the 6-ohm coils (check the resistance across the primary
winding with the leads disconnected). The control circuit supply wire will,
as mentioned, require a resistor in series with it (say, 1 watt at ???ohms --
I'll have to check the value).

This said, I can't "guarantee" to anyone that this setup will work correctly,
as it's just an experiment at this point, but I suspect that it will work
fine.

The nice thing about the Pertronx unit is that it all fits inside the
distributor, with no tell-tale external changes. And of course, there are no
points to adjust. It should also produce a somewhat hotter spark due to
better switching and coil saturation/discharge characteristics, though I
could not give you a detailed breakdown on this, since I'm not an electrical
engineer.

Here's a good source for Pertronix kits, and also for custom-built
distributors if you want someone else to do an electronic ignition conversion
for your MV.

http://www.ytmag.com/genesee/index.htm Ask for Andy.

Alan

Dave Cole wrote:

> Has anyone ever tried retrofitting a capacitive discharge ignition to a
> Mil vehicle. I know it's not original, but I'm trying to get some more
> reliability out of my M51. I've got a multispark MSD 6A unit I'm going
> to try and fit to my M51. Supposidly it puts out multiple sparks through
> 20 degrees of crankshaft rotation at high voltage versus 1spark with the
> standard inductive ignition. Also, does anyone know if Pertronix or
> someone makes a solid state retrofit kit that will fit an M series 6
> cylinder distributor so I can rid of the points.
>
> After all of this high performance stuff I may have to check out the 1/4
> mile time at the local drag strip! (;->)
>
> Dave Cole
>

===
To unsubscribe from the mil-veh mailing list, send the single word
UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of a message to <mil-veh-request@skylee.com>.