Still on the fence about electronic ignition for old Mopars after my buddy's swap last month

My friend Frank put a Pertronix kit in his 1970 Challenger and spent three weekends chasing a random misfire before he found out the module was bad out of the box. He lives over in Phoenix so the heat might have toasted it, but still, that's a whole month of wrenching instead of driving. Meanwhile my 1965 Dart with the rusty points and condenser has started every single time since I bought it three years ago. I know electronic ignition is supposed to be more reliable, but I've heard of four separate guys having issues just this summer alone. Anyone else sticking with points and finding modern replacements are actually decent?

2 comments

2 Comments

olivias884d ago

Points are fine if you're not driving a daily. I ran points in my 67 Belvedere for five years through all seasons and never had a no-start. Only changed them once because I felt guilty. The aftermarket electronic stuff is hit or miss. My buddy's 73 Duster got a junkyard Mopar electronic swap and that thing fired up perfect for ten years straight. So maybe the factory stuff is better than the retrofits. But I'd rather fiddle with a set of points than chase a bad module on a Saturday afternoon in July.

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nora_barnes2d ago

The "Saturday afternoon in July" part hits too close to home, ha. I've been there with a bad module in a parking lot, and honestly I'd take fiddling with points over that any day too. There's something honest about a set of points, you can see what's wrong and fix it with a file if you have to. @olivias88 your Belvedere story makes me feel better about my own stubborn old truck, I've been running points for years and only touched them when the dwell drifted. I get why people love the factory electronic stuff, but when it works, it works, and when it doesn't, you're stuck with a brick.