How to test Petronix box

[Guest]

My 1960 T-bird died today while I was cleaning the carb, I thought it was out of gas than I pulled a wire and turn the car over "no spark" My question is how can I tell if it's the box? Is there an old fashion way to test the box? I am going to get another coil tomorrow.

[JohnG]

not sure where you would quickly get a Pertronix compatible coil. If you look at the paperwork, there is a resistance requirement of something like 1.5 ohms. I remember poking around alot of coils and none quite made it so I finally bought a Pertronix coil made for the job.

Hard to imagine a coil failing... but if you do a resistance check across the two secondary posts it should not show an open circuit...

There is alot of information about their systems including coil ratings and troubleshooting at the following site:

http://www.vintageperformance.com/re...nformation.htm *

Let us know what you end up finding!!

John

* this link is in the Technical Reference Library as well

[Guest]

False alarm

I did not have spark yesterday, I thought it was the petronix box or the coil, There is a small wire harness that goes along the driver's side of the motor, it has the temp sending unit,oil pressure sending unit and the ignition wire to coil. I went to remove the coil wire and the wire fell out of the connected fork. I unwraped the wrapping of tape and found that all three wires were raw with no insulation on them and they were touching. I made new wire and a new connector and installed a new coil car fired up. I than put my old coil in and the car fired up. Oh well now I have a coil for testing. I'm just glad I got my bird back on the road.

[JohnG]

be grateful it happened in the driveway!! They could have easily shorted out while you were crusin' at 70 mph on some highway!

John

[Guest]

I am the Golden boy

For some reason I get lucky like this twice a year. The reason it stayed in was the wind driving pushed it in. I was reving the motor and the wire blew out. I checked everything and hope I found all bad wires. Your right if it's going to break let it happen right at the driveway.