driedle
New member
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2015
Hey everybody...
Ever do something that you hope works like it says it will?
I have a 1971 164 with a four-speed.
I decided to get a Pertronix Ignitor II to replace the points. I has all sorts of cool things, like computerized dwell, etc, and I thought it would be an improved ignition system. (In reality, I just lazy and don't want to adjust points...)
I also picked up a FlameThrower II coil at the same time, because it's a very low ohm coil, and they recommend it highly. I bought the epoxy-tilled version instead of a conventional oil-filled coil, because they supposedly never go bad, and you can mount it anywhere, although I have actually NEVER had a coil fail in over 100 cars...
The Pertronix was easy to install, but it was impossible to remove the screw for the condenser, so I marked where the timing was set, rotated the distributor until I could actually get at the screw and remove it. After that, it took 10 minutes to install the Pertronix.
I went to replace the coil. Not as easy. It turns out the the epoxy-filled coils have a smaller body diameter body, and I did not have any sheet rubber to mount the coil.
Damn. I left the wires and picked up some sheet rubber to use the next day.
I was able to mount the coil correctly.
Then, when I was sorting the stock ignition wires, one of the wires separated from the spark plug connector. Apparently, this has been going on for some time. because the screw in the boot that threads into the ignition wire had hogged out the hole and it would not stay attached. I taped the cable to the boot to keep it attached, and the car ran fine with the new Pertronix and fancy coil.
Hello Rock Auto?
I picked up a set of OEM-quality Denso ignition wires to replace my original wires for about $20. They arrived a few days later, and I brought the car home from the storage unit to replace the wires. I lubed the boots and cap boots with the supplied grease, took off one wire, and found that my original wires simply slid over the threads, the new ones slipped over the connectors that threaded OVER the threads...
A quick check with garages and parts stores in Perry, MI for the threaded piece was fruitless, and the cheapest spark plugs that came with attachment that I could thread onto my original Bosch plugs were almost $4.00 each...
Hello Rock Auto again?
Bought some Denso U-groove plugs for a princely $1.26 each.
They arrived a few days later, and I finally had everything to install the new plug wires after I installed the new plugs the new wires could actually use.
I saw that Pertronix suggested that you increase the spark plug gap by .005 when you used the FlameThrower coil so I set the gap to .035". Before I did this, the car ran great, but did have a very slight intermittent misfire at idle, even with the damed wire taped up.
After I put the new plug in with the larger gap. the misfire was gone. It idles like a modern fuel-injected car. I have not even timed it yet...
The original plugs could have been in a book illustrating how plugs are supposed to look. I have NEVER had a car where the plugs looked this good...
I am VERY pleased, and would highly recommend the same thing to anyone with an old Volvo, it worked liked I had hoped it work...don't think that this has ever happened to me before!
Dave Riedle
Ever do something that you hope works like it says it will?
I have a 1971 164 with a four-speed.
I decided to get a Pertronix Ignitor II to replace the points. I has all sorts of cool things, like computerized dwell, etc, and I thought it would be an improved ignition system. (In reality, I just lazy and don't want to adjust points...)
I also picked up a FlameThrower II coil at the same time, because it's a very low ohm coil, and they recommend it highly. I bought the epoxy-tilled version instead of a conventional oil-filled coil, because they supposedly never go bad, and you can mount it anywhere, although I have actually NEVER had a coil fail in over 100 cars...
The Pertronix was easy to install, but it was impossible to remove the screw for the condenser, so I marked where the timing was set, rotated the distributor until I could actually get at the screw and remove it. After that, it took 10 minutes to install the Pertronix.
I went to replace the coil. Not as easy. It turns out the the epoxy-filled coils have a smaller body diameter body, and I did not have any sheet rubber to mount the coil.
Damn. I left the wires and picked up some sheet rubber to use the next day.
I was able to mount the coil correctly.
Then, when I was sorting the stock ignition wires, one of the wires separated from the spark plug connector. Apparently, this has been going on for some time. because the screw in the boot that threads into the ignition wire had hogged out the hole and it would not stay attached. I taped the cable to the boot to keep it attached, and the car ran fine with the new Pertronix and fancy coil.
Hello Rock Auto?
I picked up a set of OEM-quality Denso ignition wires to replace my original wires for about $20. They arrived a few days later, and I brought the car home from the storage unit to replace the wires. I lubed the boots and cap boots with the supplied grease, took off one wire, and found that my original wires simply slid over the threads, the new ones slipped over the connectors that threaded OVER the threads...
A quick check with garages and parts stores in Perry, MI for the threaded piece was fruitless, and the cheapest spark plugs that came with attachment that I could thread onto my original Bosch plugs were almost $4.00 each...
Hello Rock Auto again?
Bought some Denso U-groove plugs for a princely $1.26 each.
They arrived a few days later, and I finally had everything to install the new plug wires after I installed the new plugs the new wires could actually use.
I saw that Pertronix suggested that you increase the spark plug gap by .005 when you used the FlameThrower coil so I set the gap to .035". Before I did this, the car ran great, but did have a very slight intermittent misfire at idle, even with the damed wire taped up.
After I put the new plug in with the larger gap. the misfire was gone. It idles like a modern fuel-injected car. I have not even timed it yet...
The original plugs could have been in a book illustrating how plugs are supposed to look. I have NEVER had a car where the plugs looked this good...
I am VERY pleased, and would highly recommend the same thing to anyone with an old Volvo, it worked liked I had hoped it work...don't think that this has ever happened to me before!
Dave Riedle
