Having fun with my engine right now. Went to a Blaster 2 coil and WAS running Petronix. Guy at FLAPS told me I dont need a resistor inline with the coil. 30 minutes after the install, *poof* no spark. Figured out that the Petronix was dead by the smell coming from the dizzy. So I backdate to points on the side of the road and add a resistor. I got the gap nice and close, and set the timing by ear. Car reads a lot hotter on the oil temp guage now. So I check the dwell angle and timing. Dwell is at about 50 deg. at idle BUT goes down to about 40 at higher rpm. I proceed to check timing. Set it at 27 deg. and let the car return to idle and it dies. I gave the dizzy a nudge to advance it just a bit, start it back up and it idles LOW. Has NO bottom end power, and has about 1500rpm of power up high. If I give it any more advance, it pings. I am running good gas, so its not that. Still runs really hot. About 240deg on the oil temp, where it was reading about 180-190deg. before. I am really trying to figure out why I cant get it to run good now! Anything I should check out? I have checked the basics, but its not working!


SIDENOTE

My car ran like a bat outta hell before I went to the blaster coil. Ran even better with that in there until the Petronix burned up. It isnt my FI at all as far as I know. I had a really good idle quality, and great power all the way up to 5500rpm.

is going on????

Go to FLAPS and beat the piss out of the guy.
Dwell just plain sucks to screw around with.
Did the car back fire at all when it died? could be you blew off a vacuum line somewhere. hence funky running

as far as temps go change back to other coil and see what change you get.
Report back because I am curious about Blaster coils. Personally don't think they are worth it.

You'll get those exact symptoms (no bottom end power, high oil temps) if the point gap is too close. I know you've been adjusting dwell, so maybe not your problem. But I would stick a feeler gauge in there at full open and see if it's tighter than .016 (.4mm).

Hey, if you still need a dwell/tach and timing light, let me know.

Wow, I just saw the time of that first post. You sleep like I do.

u probably know already but changing dwell/gap changes timing but not visa/versa.

also, as stated above, once you have your idle timing set, and it still runs like crap off idle, then i bet your vacuum hose has come off.

Hell I had already been at work for nearly 2 hours. and I STILL have an hour to go.

I have checked all the hoses and they are all ok. When I put in the points, I set tem at .016" to start with and they seemed to be ok. AS far as oil temp, it was ok with the blaster while I had the Petronix. As soon as I put in the points and the timing went crazy, temp went up. I also just put in new plugs, wires, cap, and rotor. Troy(messix) says that the odd dwell may be caused by a worn dizzy shaft???

a healthy spark is a healthy spark. pertronix or points.

you get a hot condition when the timing is both, too advanced or too retarded.

smaller gap than was previously set at makes for too retarded timing.
larger gap makes for too advanced.

geez, i still have 4 hours of work left to go. =-)

The dwell should vary noticably on the meter if the shaft bushings are worn. You can feel worn bushings by just removing the rotor and trying to wiggle the shaft. The shaft will normally move in and out, but you shouldn't be able to feel any play side to side.

Go back to the old coil. If you change two things at once, it's hard to know which change caused the problem. If the problem persists with the old coil, recheck your ignition timing (you checked at idle AND at 3000rpm?). As Roger says, different dwell will give different timing, and this will show up with a timing light.

Finally got a chance to play with the car today. The dizzy shaft is not worn. Very little to no play in it sideways. Put my old blue coil back in, and that made no difference. Put in some better looking points, and that made a very slight difference in the idle, but that was probably just a small timing change due to not having the exact same gap. Also, when I am on the gas and let off, the car falls down to 2K rpm and then SLOWLY comes down to 1K rpm, and then drops way down and bounces around off the bottom of the tach. Sometimes it will come back up off the bottom to idle at about 800-900rpm. Seems to have more lag at the bottom end when warm, and take longer to come down in the rpm when warm as well.

Hey, if you get your's figured out you better fill me in. My car is in almost the exact same running style (albiet, still slower than yours). Never had anything but the stock parts on the engine though. Just put in new points, condenser, cleaned the whole dizzy, new rotor and cap, set the timing, still runs poorly though

Friends, points are soooooooooooooooooo passay. The best advice is to get electronic ignition! Compufire, like a whopping 40$, or any thing of the such. I like the Compufire 009 in cap setup because it is hidden from view if you don't want to loose some show points. Installation is a no brainer and you never have to mess with setting points again. For a cheep reliable all weather ignition system, choose CompuFire.


Comes with a set of steak knives absolutely free!

READ the instructions before you install a compufire jim. also, if you want to listen to the music with the engine not running, you'll want to hardwire the cd player/amp to the fuse panel. sitting with the ignition in the first position can lead to problems. chose your connection point carefully. carry your points, a feeler gauge, and a screwdriver in the glovebox. jim has his electrical system loaded to the max.

k

No more system in my car Kev. I sold it! I think the dizzy is to blame. Seems like the the advance plate is sticking. Roughly $60 for a new one with my discount from work. I will see what that does for me and report back.