I'm playing around with a new (for me) diagnostic oscilloscope and I think I'm pulling too many kV's on the secondary wires. One potential cause appears to be related to too much resistance somewhere. The plug and coil wires test out OK (they are NGK's). The plugs were just cleaned and gap checked. I started wondering if I need to set the gaps smaller than the 0.8 - 0.9 to decrease the kV before arcing. 

The oscilloscope traces are here if you are interested:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=404459

Edit - I just saw that you're using the gap recommended for points.

Can't see the traces without becoming a member of the other site.

What gap are you running?  The Mallory Unilite is not a "high energy" ignition system.  It is electronic but runs the same plug gap as a points setup.

http://documents.holley.com/mallory_instructions_unilite_distributor_37_38_45_47.pdf

Edited October 18, 20186 yr by Zed Head

41 minutes ago, Jeff Berk said:

 I think I'm pulling too many kV's on the secondary wires. One potential cause appears to be related to too much resistance somewhere. The plug and coil wires test out OK (they are NGK's).

Are you running resistor plugs with resistor wires?  

I'm no expert.  And I can't really tell which wires you mean are the secondary wires, or what "pulling kilovolts" means.

Anyway, the oscilloscope traces would be interesting if you could paste them in over here.  Pretty sure that some of the members here are electrical engineers and would like to see them.

Yup, unilite. Sorry about the pictures not being available on the garage site. This thing is a lot of fun. 

Edited October 19, 20186 yr by Jeff Berk