Pertronix electronic ignition

[Neil Bardsley]

I have Fred's 6v CD in my 356. Starts better and runs better. Also works as a security switch.

I have the 12v pertonix in my 914. We ran to Le Mans last year in pretty warm weather. Started and run perfectly. The points are a pain to charge and gap on this dizzy.

[Pete Indelicato]

How does a Pertronix ignition defer from a Prec. 123 distributor?

[Neil Bardsley]

The 123 is a complete distributor with electrical advance curves. Some are programmable. The pertonix sits in your existing distributor, uses the spring advance but replaces the points

[Pete Indelicato]

OK, so if your current distributor is giving you issues, adding a Pertonix won't necessarily fix the problem? Seems to me a better way to go is with the 123 distrib.

[Martin Benade]

Yes the pertronix only replaces the points, the simplest part of a distributor to get working right.

[Al Zim]

Previously we spent time "repairing" distributors the 1968/9 were the best. However they are 54 years old. ZimZ received our first shipment of 123 Distributors the first week of January 2023. Every engine that we restore (you know the difference) to factory specifications (and fuel Injection) receives a NEW 123 distributor. You can correctly tune the engine with this distributor! Including bringing it smoothly off idle when starting till the engine warms up. Do you want a 54 +++ year old distributor or one that works. Old cars are Not Cheap or Easy to fix. Zim Today is March 8 we have sold half of the distributors that arrived the first week of January. We have changed the wiring for the fuel injection. It has been installed with fuel injection in 912's and our recent (read first) 914.
Modern electronics and a extensive (comprehensive) engine rebuild will make you smile. al zim

[Paul Lima]

I have nothing against 123 or any other similar solution. But, a BR18 or 022 rebuilt by Carburetor Rescue or Bruce Smith will work perfectly for many years.

[David Jones]

Don't forget that the Pertronix does have the advantage of eliminating the condenser as well as the points. All you have left to consider is the maintenance of the mechanical advance mechanism.

[Harlan Halsey]

I have nothing against 123 or any other similar solution. But, a BR18 or 022 rebuilt by Carburetor Rescue or Bruce Smith will work perfectly for many years.

To be specific, points in my 356s go trouble free for about 15,000 miles. About then, the points need adjustment and sometimes flat filing. These days 15,000 miles is several lifetimes for me, but when the Porsche was my daily driver, 15,000 miles was a little over a year. Spark plugs go about the same distance. A couple of hours a year didn't seem too much to me. I'll bet I can adjust the valves, change the plugs, and change the points in under an hour if I hurry. Any 356 owner should be able to do the same. So why crap up the car with aftermarket stuff?

At one point I thought an electronic REV limiter would be a good idea for our Lotus Elite. For my co-driver of course, not for me. The REV limiter quit, shutting down the ignition system, the first time as I was entering the carrousel at Sears, in traffic. We sent it back. The repaired unit failed again. Enough. It is a neat unit though: you can set the limit in 200 RPM steps. It soft limits, dropping sparks progressively before total shut off. One day I saw a team spend an entire morning at the track trying to trouble shoot an ignition failure before tracing it to the Petronix. Just because it is new doesn't necessarily mean that it is reliable.

[Jeffrey Vogel]

I have had a bad experience with new pertronix, it seems that 50% of units are defective , old units were much better quality

[Bruce Smith]

Odd that you've had problems Jeffrey. I've installed about twenty in the past five years, and all have been good. I assume to this day, as I have heard of no longer term issues with them either. This said, I am still a fan of points (properly set) and use them in all of my own cars.

[Dave Erickson]

Porsche used to sell 914’s with rev limiters - not sure why. But those were mechanical Bosch rotors for the distributor that limited the RPM to some value.

[Bill Sargent]

I am currently running pertronix 1 in both of my 4 cam distributors in conjunction with a pair of Winterburn 12V CD boxes with circuitry to allow master/slave operation of the distributors. I have pertronix in both distributors, even though only one is used in the master/slave arrangement, for redundancy. If one pertronix fails I have the wiring set up so I can easily make the other distributor the master.

This set up has eliminated plug fouling issues and had been reliable for several years.

I am currently working on a 123 ignition retrofit kit for 4 cam distributors. In the design process I have had both the 123 Ignition and 4 cam distributors apart. While the 123 Ignition distributor works very well, they are nowhere near as robust as a stock 356 or 4 cam distributor. The main difference is the shaft design. The 356 & 4 cam shaft is 12.45mm diameter and has a spiral oil carrying groove machined in the surface to carry oil up to some felt located between the bronze bushings in the distributor body that carry the shaft. The 123 Ignition used a 10mm shaft in bronze bushings with no provisions for oiling. However, unless you put 10K miles a year on your 356, the 123 Ignition distributor will probably work fine.

As Al Zim said, the 123 Ignition distributors really work well to provide a solid advance curve. That adjustable advance curve, and $420 for points to do two 4 cam distributors, is why I developed the 4 cam 123 retrofit kit.

[Jon Knoles]

I've had a Pertronix in my semi-daily driver notchback since 2011. Have had zero problems since. I can't even remember the days before that of replacing or gapping points, fiddling with advance, etc.

[Dave Erickson]

While the 123 Ignition distributor works very well, they are nowhere near as robust as a stock 356 or 4 cam distributor. The main difference is the shaft design. The 356 & 4 cam shaft is 12.45mm diameter and has a spiral oil carrying groove machined in the surface to carry oil up to some felt located between the bronze bushings in the distributor body that carry the shaft. The 123 Ignition used a 10mm shaft in bronze bushings with no provisions for oiling.

Bill, that is an interesting point of comparison. I know that 123 will install their internals into a cast iron Bosch distributor, so the end result is indistinguishable from stock. I wonder if that means they just install a different pair of bronze bushings in the cast iron body, so that it will accept the 10mm shaft.