[Bentwheelbob]

Originally Posted by Norwood

leave it in the trunk.......

.....or, you could get someone to convert it to Petronix, but I understand that is almost impossible to do unless you are highly skilled.

[SD455DJ]

Originally Posted by Norwood

leave it in the trunk.......

[4birds]

Looking good Mike. There's always something that doesn't go as planned. These damn cars always need tinkering with. I guess that's why we love them so much. It's the journey....

Norwood cracks me up!

[Norwood]

Originally Posted by Bentwheelbob

.....or, you could get someone to convert it to Petronix, but I understand that is almost impossible to do unless you are highly skilled.

I'll convert it all he has to do is ask and we need to do something with that alternator and master.

[carnut4life]

Converting a unitized distributor to a Pertronix is actually quite easy if you follow the instructions keepat did in his 72 TA thread several years ago. I have limited electrical skills and did it to mine a couple years ago and it looked and ran perfect until I left the ignition key on one day and burnt the coil up. Finding another NOS coil for it was a big enough pain that the 2133 is stored in a box now as Norwood suggest. I'm running an HEI in my TA now as well since all you have to do to swap it out is change a couple of the plastic distributor connectors(tach and power wire if I remember correctly?) on a unitized harness to run the HEI instead of butchering the harness to convert it back to a points distributor. In addition to looking nice all you have to do is swap the tach and power connectors back if you want to reinstall the unitized distributor.

[Aus78Formula]

engine bay looks mint, shame they dropped the air cleaner callouts soon after.

[Rocky Rotella]

Sorry to hear, Mike. Frustrating, I'm sure.

If the module fired on the machine, it should fire in the car. If you're not getting spark and everything else is in working order, then it's most likely the coil, which I can't test with my machine. The way the wire loom "insulates" the coil in the Unitized cap makes it tough to dissipate heat and the coil gets weak. There may not be enough voltage to fire the module and I suspect that's what's happening here. A second condition can occur, and that's when the coil gets weak, it can put such a load on the module that the module burns out.

If you'd like to box it up and send the unit to me, I'll be happy to put it back on the machine and give it a quick spin. Maybe it's something simple, but I suspect it's the coil.

[Judge273]

Thanks Rocky, Never thought of coil. Makes sense that it is not possible to bench test. I'll look for one and give it a go. But, for now the hei is working nicely.

The fun part will be getting the 500 miles on it...

How do those trailer queens seat the rings after a rebuild?

[Judge273]

Originally Posted by Aus78Formula

engine bay looks mint, shame they dropped the air cleaner callouts soon after.

Thanks, Not sure what that means on call outs?

[Judge273]

Originally Posted by 4birds

Looking good Mike. There's always something that doesn't go as planned. These damn cars always need tinkering with. I guess that's why we love them so much. It's the journey....

Norwood cracks me up!

You know all these guys here are awesome at this stuff. Craig, Dennis, Bob, Chad, Johnny, and yourself...love the comments in morning with coffee

[RamAir]

The engine bay really looks great Mike, If I remember correctly, PB said mine had the same problem when it was sent to him for wires. He had a spare coil that he provided and the unitized has worked flawlessly since.

[Norwood]

Can't do the pertronix with a bad coil.

[Judge273]

Wow! Kicked it up between raindrops ( didn't miss one). Still very impressed with how smooth it sounded and drove. Did put in new center force clutch too.

Glad I did that too...

[Held for Ransom]

Originally Posted by Judge273

Thanks, Not sure what that means on call outs?

I think he's referring to the "455 HO" decal on the air cleaner lid.
I don't like where the "Keep your GM ..." decal was placed.

[carnut4life]

Originally Posted by Judge273

You know all these guys here are awesome at this stuff. Craig, Dennis, Bob, Chad, Johnny, and yourself...love the comments in morning with coffee

Great car Mike, I absolutely love it and the fact that you drive it like you bought it new! I seriously considered buying that car when it popped up for sale in 2013 but already had a plane ticket to go look at the 72 TA I ended up buying and you had already pulled the trigger on it by the time I returned so every time I see an update on this car it makes me smile! Just remembered tonight that I've got a spare 1112133 1K27 dated distributor that's already been converted to a Pertronix and re-curved by Rocky. Call me or PM me if you want it, I'll be selling my TA soon(it's already spoken for) to have Mom's old Z28 restored for her 70th birthday so I won't be needing it anymore. Keep up the good work and the updates!

[Bentwheelbob]

CarNut - I would be interested in the distributor for the Black Car if Mike passes.

HFR is correct, the keep GM decal should be in the 1:30 position or so if the front of motor is 6:00. Also, I may have a better choke coil cover for you Mike if you need it. I'll dig through my stash.

Most importantly though, you have the Sundance Kid back on the road while there is still time to drive and enjoy it. You've got to love that.

[Judge273]

Thanks Doug, Mike, Chad and Bob.

I should move that sticker on air cleaner. I think it looks better in back too.

Chad I have same distributor too. If it just needs a coil. I'll hang on hope of finding that piece. Thanks for offer too. Sell it to Bob.



Bob, if you find that cover..let me know.

Hopefully, Craig will spruce up my alt and sell me his extra eb master too.

[carnut4life]

Ok Bob, consider it yours. I sent you a text so you can get hold of me this weekend.

[unruhjonny]

Originally Posted by Judge273

Smoke test detects leaks in cyclinders and other seals. Not that all Pontiacs don't leak there...

OK, I'll google it - I haven't heard of this before, but I guess I am decidedly old school when it comes to these engines... in that I get my instruction mostly from books - and I haven't come across this.

Originally Posted by Judge273

I had that unitized distributor bench tested and recurved. Not sure why that didn't detect that it didn't produce any electricity to provide spark. No spark all worthless work done in advance.

...

I suspect a bad module? Can't believe a bench test didn't find it? Not giving up on it yet. Any suggestion or thoughts?

I'm glad to read you're not giving up - but when I typed "correct" I was meaning period correct - a points distributor might not be original to the car, but when installed, it will look 100% original;
That was what I meant.

[unruhjonny]

Originally Posted by Judge273

Wow! Kicked it up between raindrops ( didn't miss one). Still very impressed with how smooth it sounded and drove. Did put in new center force clutch too.

Glad I did that too...

I put a centerforce in my car, and never understood why people would rag on them - I had great experience with mine.

Is there a way to test a Unitized coil or ignition module on a bench?

(I cannot find where I shuffled it to at the moment, but I have one complete setup, with some spare parts; the worst thing for me is that the "cap" is cracked.)