Hello and Questions!

[Anders]

GTE427 is right on the money.

I always use D2, and I can feel every one of the three gears in my Cruise-O-Matic. First gear is quick. Sometimes she shifts to second gear before I'm through the intersection.

Same here
I always thought D2 was the one to use.

[Rigormortor]

Same here
I always thought D2 was the one to use.

It seems the older transmissions from the 50's cars shift very quick to get into 3rd. My 59 Dodge with the torqueflite is in 3rd at 30mph.... the Tbird about the same.... so that makes downshifting when your doing 50 mph non existence....

[Guest]

ok, thanks guys. i drove it in drive1 and did indeed feel it shift thru all three gears but actually like driving it in drive2 better somewhat. once i change the detent plate i will just drive in 1 though. a few other things follow.

1. will the Edelbrock RPM manifold fit on my car AND CLEAR the hood with the edelbrock performer carb on it? i know the reg. performer intake is supposed to but its recommended if your doing it to get the RPM as its much better for 50 bucks more. right now with the triangular very small air cleaner (proflo 1000 i think) from edelbrock and the carb it seems to be just right. i know others have the RPM on theirs but do they have it on a 59? is there any difference in the 60 hood clearances or later models, remember i have a 67 engine and the block of course the same as is most everything else. but just didnt know if anyone had experience with this.

2. when using the pertronix ignition conversion, do i keep my distributor or buy one of the high dollars ones? it says it eliminates the points but i dont get it. i see in MACS autoparts book it doesnt say ANYTHING about a distributor but other sites such as summitracing and others have the distributor as something that needs to be added it seems? confused on this.

3. i have read thru the site and found info on the fuel sending unit (mine is NEW) however no where could i actually find, in plain english for someone that dont know much, where in the heck it is. i am trying to hook a fuel gauge up and it says attach this to fuel sending unit or whatever and the other to a ground but i have been thru the trunk and other places and have NO IDEA where. i need someone to spell it out without using car language LOL. like look under the mat to the left, red wire, black wire, hook this to that etc. not find fuel sending unit, look near left dogleg for the a;lsdkjf;lsakdjf and there it is. LOL

4. below are pics of my trunk and the wires i spoke of earlier. i still havent got that figured out. they are green, orange, and the two reds on each side. NO WHERE is there anything to hook them to except the green which is just broke. i need to know if any of these work the reverse lights and turn signals. if not what EXACTLY are they two. the wires are incased in the original cloth looking casing. only near the lights do they have an opening and these are sticking out. i know someone said check something under the dash but thats like looking at the inside of a box of telephone wires. i cant tell what is what. so if someone could explain this to me in terms a two year old could understand i think it might help. i dont care if you talk DOWN to me just tell me what to do, it will be ok. LOL

[Guest]

Hey Robertson,
I will let the other guys comment on the intake a carburetor. I think I remember reading it is close with stock!
As far as the pertronix ignition, my points went out on Christine on the road (lucky I was in town). I got her running and decided to change points out with pertronix ignition. I used same distributor and it worked fine. I only changed out the distributor when I was trying to remove vacuum advance and broke of screw in distributor.
As far as the sending unit, look in the trunk, right behind the spare tire well (behind as in towards the rear of the car) and under the trunk liner. You will see a metal cap with two screws holding it in place. Remove cap. HAVE FIRE EXTINGUISHER NEARBY WHEN WORKING AROUND GAS!!! You should see threads with nut and wire attached. Remove wire. There should be a ring around the perimeter of this with ears on it. Take flat head screw driver and hammer and gently tap on it, righty tighty, lefty loosy! Now you should be able to remove sending unit for examination. Reattach wire and get you another piece of wire and attach to good ground (negative battery post is best) Now with some help hold sending unit in your hand with new ground wire against metal housing of sending unit. Have helper watch gauge as you move float through its swing stages and see if gauge moves. If it moves you need to install a ground wire between lock ring and sending unit and to a good clean screw in trunk area. You can also get you some electrical grease and apply to wire ends!
OK! Now this is on a '60 may differ from '59! But it should give you some general ideal what you are working with! On the left side, outside light, green and a blue wire coming from bulb housing. Green wire (bulb) to green wire (wiring harness) . Black (bulb) goes to junction of four other black wires (wiring harness). Center light. Green and black wires coming from bulb housing. Green (bulb) to green wire (wiring harness). Black to same junction (wiring harness) as other outside light. Backup light, I have no bulb socket, nut I have plug from wiring harness two black wires with red stripe, they should go to backup light.
Right side, outside light. Green and black wires coming from bulb socket. Green (bulb) to orange (wiring harness), and black (bulb) to black (wiring harness). Center light, green and black wire from bulb socket. Green (bulb) to green (wiring harness), black (bulb) to black (wiring harness). Backup light, no bulb socket, I have black wire with red stripe (wiring harness), they should go to backup light!
As far as the red wire check and see if there is a screw hole in the sheet metal of the car, within reach of this wire, that may have fell out! Other wise I'm lost on the red wires location!
REMEMBER WITHOUT A GOOD GROUND THESE BULBS WILL NOT WORK!!! The bulbs on these old Birds rely on the bulb housing (whatever it mounts in) for the ground!
Yellow wire in wiring harness should go to sending unit!
Keep us posted!!!
Richard D. Hord

[Guest]

Hey Robertson,
I will let the other guys comment on the intake a carburetor. I think I remember reading it is close with stock!
As far as the pertronix ignition, my points went out on Christine on the road (lucky I was in town). I got her running and decided to change points out with pertronix ignition. I used same distributor and it worked fine. I only changed out the distributor when I was trying to remove vacuum advance and broke of screw in distributor.
As far as the sending unit, look in the trunk, right behind the spare tire well (behind as in towards the rear of the car) and under the trunk liner. You will see a metal cap with two screws holding it in place. Remove cap. HAVE FIRE EXTINGUISHER NEARBY WHEN WORKING AROUND GAS!!! You should see threads with nut and wire attached. Remove wire. There should be a ring around the perimeter of this with ears on it. Take flat head screw driver and hammer and gently tap on it, righty tighty, lefty loosy! Now you should be able to remove sending unit for examination. Reattach wire and get you another piece of wire and attach to good ground (negative battery post is best) Now with some help hold sending unit in your hand with new ground wire against metal housing of sending unit. Have helper watch gauge as you move float through its swing stages and see if gauge moves. If it moves you need to install a ground wire between lock ring and sending unit and to a good clean screw in trunk area. You can also get you some electrical grease and apply to wire ends!
OK! Now this is on a '60 may differ from '59! But it should give you some general ideal what you are working with! On the left side, outside light, green and a blue wire coming from bulb housing. Green wire (bulb) to green wire (wiring harness) . Black (bulb) goes to junction of four other black wires (wiring harness). Center light. Green and black wires coming from bulb housing. Green (bulb) to green wire (wiring harness). Black to same junction (wiring harness) as other outside light. Backup light, I have no bulb socket, nut I have plug from wiring harness two black wires with red stripe, they should go to backup light.
Right side, outside light. Green and black wires coming from bulb socket. Green (bulb) to orange (wiring harness), and black (bulb) to black (wiring harness). Center light, green and black wire from bulb socket. Green (bulb) to green (wiring harness), black (bulb) to black (wiring harness). Backup light, no bulb socket, I have black wire with red stripe (wiring harness), they should go to backup light!
As far as the red wire check and see if there is a screw hole in the sheet metal of the car, within reach of this wire, that may have fell out! Other wise I'm lost on the red wires location!
REMEMBER WITHOUT A GOOD GROUND THESE BULBS WILL NOT WORK!!! The bulbs on these old Birds rely on the bulb housing (whatever it mounts in) for the ground!
Yellow wire in wiring harness should go to sending unit!
Keep us posted!!!
Richard D. Hord

Ok. thanks. i have looked at those and they seem to be correct for the most part. the green is now fixed but did nothing. the red on both sides i dont seem to have any power to. the orange on the right i have no idea where it is going. i have looked for bolts or anything to put it on but am at a loss.

i received the Pertronix ignition and as soon as i am able (when the rain stops, daily florida thunderstorm HAHA) i will go out and put it on. i noticed that it says that if you have a ballast to use it. says if you have a resistor to not use it. i see that the red wire is hooked to something outside the distributor it seems, down where it goes into the engine. and also on the coil. so i am not sure if this has either of the two. not sure if i am suppose to use it or what its to. since you have one can you tell me if these cars have a ballast as it said to connect the red cord from the ignition to it and not the coil, which makes no sense.

thanks again for your help.

[Guest]

Hey Robertson,
I was just guessing on the red wire with the ring terminal on the end. That wire looks like it went to ground! Do you have a circuit tester?
On my coil there is a red (+) and a black (-) that go to the distributor! Also I have a black/with red stripe (+ side) that goes to wire loom and another wire that goes down to oil pressure unit above oil filter!
If you have a tester see if you have power back there. There are two fuses on the back of the headlight switch, one may be blown!
Make sure none of the wires are touching, turn on ignition, set tester on 12 volts, find good ground and go play! Left turn signal on, take tester and find out what is hot, mark it. Right turn signal, take tester and find out what is hot, mark it. Now continue on! I wish I were there we could have this fixed in no time!!! But I'm not, so bear with me!
Keep us posted!
Richard D. Hord

[Guest]

yeah i wish someone was here to help with the wires. LOL

i am frustrated right now as i put the pertronix in EXACTLY the way it said and it would turn over but thats it. just kept turning and turning but wouldnt catch. like no spark. cleaned the distributor, hooked up the ground inside. no gap between magnet and module etc. done exactly right supposedly.

when i took the old coil off it had two wires on it. both were black, one had an orange/reddish connector on it, the type that fits over threads and are plastic, it went to what would be the POSITIVE side of the coil i guess since the coil is only marked DIST/BATT. it came from INSIDE the distributor (points). the other wire was in with alot of others. its taped and is like a harness. connects to allover the engine and one part goes into the drivers side fire wall i think. it must be the ignition. it was connected to the other side of the coil.with it, was a red wire, with similiar plastic L shapped connector that goes over threads. it was separated out next to the distributor at the bottom and was on a thread that seems to be part of the engine block?????? so whatever it is on must have power for it to be there.

so here is the dilemma. the red cord from the new pertronix system goes to the positive side of coil. the black to the neg. but then i still have these other wires that generally wouldnt be a problem to figure out and has little to do with the distributor as neither are connected to it LOL but since that one black wire was connected to the coil it has totally thrown me off. so i put it back on the new coil exactly as it was on the old. should be negative. i put the red one that went on the thread near the bottom of the distributor i spoke of back as well. then i added the new ones from the pertronix to where they go. nothing. same problem. its like i basically have two grounds hooked up for two different things to the negative side and the red wire from the new system to the positive of the new coil. so everything really should be the same. but then i started reading about resistors and ballasts on the pertronix site and i have NO IDEA if i have any of those. maybe thats the problem. surely its not this hard to figure out. i even watched the video online as i was putting the thing in. utter ridiculous......

[scumdog]

Hmmm.. ya got me stumped!

My '66 T-bird already had Petronix fitted when I bought it, had a little issue with voltage to coil being too low due to the 'hot' wire to the coil being a resistor one knocking the voltage to about 7 volts or so. (Re-routed some 12 volts to the coil and now good)

And I fitted a Petronix to my F100, did it just as the instructions said and had no problems.

[Guest]

Hey Robertson,
Its been awhile since I out mine on so I went down and took a look at it. The center part of the new pertronix ignition (round plastic part) should slide down over shaft and turn and lock into place. I think they send a spacer to get the electronic part (wires come from this part) spaced between it and the center part. There will be no spark there, its electronic!
You should have a red and black wire coming from your new pertronix ignition, the red will go to the positive side (coil) also the other wire from the (harness wires running over engine) goes to this same post! The black wire from the pertronix ignition to the negitive side of the coil.
Keep me posted!
Richard D. Hord

[jopizz]

The original harness has three wires coming out of it near the coil. A red wire that goes to the BATT term of the coil, a red/white wire that goes to the temp sender in the block and a white/red wire that goes to the oil sender. The red wire to the coil gets split. One goes to the top of the coil resistor on the firewall near the brake master cylinder and the other goes to the starter solenoid.

[Guest]

well i am not sure if i have a resistor or not. it gave me a way to check with the pertronix instructions and i did that but as soon as i did it was sparking when i touched the wire so i quit.

i will check the magnet. again. LOL i slipped it on there but didnt turn it. i did the spacer thing and then tightened it down. took spacer out. it was really close. instructions say no gap b/w the two. and the little plastic spacer was tough to get out. maybe too close.

i get the red wire from the pertronix goes to pos on coil and neg goes to neg. i am just wondering if i need to move the red one that was in that harness and connect to the coil as well instead of the thread near the bottom of the distributor in the block it seems. i dont think so though. the black wire was attached to the coil and is still there from the harness so that will have to go on the coil as well so that means i will have two black wires on the coil this time instead of one (because the pertronix has a new black wire) and the red one from the pertronix will go to the postive. the confusion is what to do with that black wire from the harness. it used to be on the batt side of the old coil. i am thinking that maybe its not a ground wire like i think and needs to go to the positive side since it was on the BATT end. the red one coming out of the old points system was on the DIST side. so maybe since i am going from BATT/DIST on old coil and the new one is pos/neg. it could be that black wasnt a ground and goes to the positive side?

[jopizz]

Your coil was wired backwards. The red wire from the harness goes to the BATT terminal and the black wire from the points goes to the DIST terminal. If you have a black wire coming out of the harness instead something is screwed up. You need to put a test light on it to see if it's got power with the key on. If it was on the BATT term of the coil I'd put it back on. The threaded post near the distributor you mentioned is the temperature sender. It should have a red/white wire on it.

[Guest]

Your coil was wired backwards. The red wire from the harness goes to the BATT terminal and the black wire from the points goes to the DIST terminal. If you have a black wire coming out of the harness instead something is screwed up. You need to put a test light on it to see if it's got power with the key on. If it was on the BATT term of the coil I'd put it back on. The threaded post near the distributor you mentioned is the temperature sender. It should have a red/white wire on it.

ahhh, that is a problem. the only red wire i have coming out of the harness is attached to the temp sender from what you are saying. the wire that was connected to the BATT is BLACK. i made the assumption that it must go to the neg. LOL and guess what. i just pulled the pertronix out and it was smelling like it was fried and sure enough it is. has a black hole in it. hopefully that didnt mess up anything else??? just the electronics. have to send back and get a new one. so here is the deal now. i want to re-install my points but have no idea if i just screw them back in or if they have to be close to something like the way the magnet was supposed to be. i think i read somewhere that you have to "set" them or something.

second thing is i want to use this COIL instead of my old one while i wait to get a new igniter from pertronix. so if i use a tester and test that black wire that was on batt and it lights up then it would go to the postive side on the new coil or what? that would mean i wouldnt have anything going to the NEG side? or am i utter confused.

well guess what. that black wire has a little over 12 volts. closer to 13 it seems. barely lit that light up at 13 or 13.5 or whatever but it definately has power. so thats why it blew. now i would suppose since it is POS that it would go to the POS on the new coil. the one from the points would also go to the POS. then i would have to use a wire i dont have to ground the coil to someplace?

[jopizz]

It sounds like the original red wire broke and somebody pieced a black wire onto it. If it has power it should go on the BATT term or POS terminal of the coil. The DIST or NEG side of the coil should go to the distributor points. If you are going to put the old points back on they have to be set with a feeler gauge.

[Guest]

well i changed the way i had it wired and put the points back in. took a while to get them just right. probably still not perfect but drives good, a very slight idle roughness but only slight. i cant wait to get the new pertronix in there, since thanks to the help, i wont blow it up again. LOL one thing i have noticed, and read about on this site (which some or most is over my head so i cant test it) is the generator light coming on more pronounced. before it would just barely be there when i was in idle while in gear. like at a stop sign. as soon as i hit the gas or put it in park/neutral it would be fine. i know everyone has talked about it and testing this and that but again thats completely over my head. and the regulator thing is too. its more prounounced now for sure. at first i was thinking the idle was too low while it was warming up. put the elec choke in and although it takes a while to warm up it works and it seems maybe the idle needs to be slowed down. HAHA. but no light on warm up. then when i am in gear or at a light and stopped i think the idle might need to come up. its weird. then the gen light comes on pretty bright. just had it tested and it was working fine. wasnt as bright until i took out the points, blew up the elec ignition, put points back in. LOL figures. runs fine when i am going but makes me nervous when at lights or stop signs. just waiting for it to die. HAHA. i think if the idle is adjusted properly and the elec ignition comes in and its in there that it might go away but you never know. i was thinking of switching to an alternator and then have read about that on here as well. seems like a lot of trouble. i found that Concours in NV have the kit to bolt right on for 169.00 or so including the alt. has anyone used theirs? can anyone also tell me why the gen light ONLY comes on while in gear at idle at a light, just sitting there with my foot on the brake. i put in a voltmeter and its always slightly over 12, except for today when driving with the pertronix coil in (since switched back to old one til new ignition comes) and it was running around 13 to 13.4 while driving down the street. at night with lights on it was just below 12 unless i have the other coil in then its slightly higher. thanks again for the help guys.

Oh yeah. still no tail light blinkers. LOL