Weird Pertronix problem

[soundmasterg]

I just installed the Pertronix unit in my '72 Z and the car runs light years better than it did with the points. The strange thing is that if I let the car idle, it will just up and quit after a couple minutes all on it's own. Then if I try to restart it, it will not start until I pull the distributor cap off, and then put it back on again. Then it starts right up. It runs fine as I drive and hasn't quit yet while driving...just when stopped for a light and while talking to someone while the car idled. I don't see anything wrong with the cap, and as far as I can tell the Pertronix unit is installed correctly. I'm pretty baffled so if anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Greg

[240ZGL]

I would replace the cap and rotor. The carbon button in the center of the cap might be worn or sticking. The only time I had a problem with a Pertronix equipped car was that the button on the cap had worn down to the point of no contact with the rotor. It's not a Pertronix problem just a worn out cap.

[Garagegoon]

I agree with the above reply. Just installed my Pertronix and had to replace old cap and rotor as well. All is well now.

[EScanlon]

You might also check that all the wires were properly seated in their cups.

That was the problem on another dizzy problem. The coil wire was in it's cup, just not deep enough that it made good contact with the button's contact.

E

[soundmasterg]

Thanks for the suggestions. The cap and rotor are brand new and look just fine. I didn't have anything remotely resembling the problem until I put the pertronix in. I did have it wired directly to the coil since I used a Crane PS40 coil.....I figured it would be ok as the coil had a 1.8 ohms resistance. Just in case I moved the connection to the ballast resistor and I haven't had the problem reoccur yet, so maybe that was it. I will doublecheck all the connections though just to be sure.

Greg