Re:Scout 800 points questions-/-Pertronics conversion

["Myron Ware" <cmw@domain.elided>]

John,
  I, too, did the Pertronix conversion.  I got mine From 
Northern Auto Parts <http://www.naparts.com>, and the price was 
$59.99 and the shipping/handling was around $10.  I picked up a 
MSD blaster 2 coil since a local speed shop guy said it would be 
less expensive for the same functionality (and I got one that 
was a kit that included the ballast resistor and heavy duty coil 
wire boots).  I've got a Holley distributor, so I got Pertronix 
kit #1481.    
  To install it, bump the engine over until the rotor is pointed 
at the #1 terminal of the dist cap.  There will be a small ring 
in the kit with a diameter about the size of a half dollar.  
Once the points are out of the dist., slip the ring over the 
shaft in the dist and just make a reference mark on the ring so 
you know where the first magnet lines up.  take the ring back 
off and you'll notice a seam about 1mm from the top surface, and 
you can use a thin bladed knife/fingernail to pry it up to 
reveal the magnets inside.  Starting from your reference mark, 
remove every other magent so that only four remain.  The magnets 
are *VERY* attracted to one another and love to fly out of their 
holes, so you may have to get creative on how you place your 
fingers during all this.  Place the cap back on the ring and 
continue with the instructions supplied in the kit.
  The funny thing I ran into, was that after installing it, it 
would only run on two cylinders, and a timing light showed that 
the other two weren't getting spark.  No fouling was evident, 
and the wires/cap/rotor were only a couple months old.  Air gap 
for the sensor/ring was fine.  I pulled the ring off and put it 
back on rotated 90 degrees ahead of where it was, working 
cylinders stopped firing, but the non-working ones fired.  More 
checking of clearances revealed nothing.  I thought maybe a 
magnet got turned to where it was opposite what it should be, so 
I started flipping the one for the non-working cylinders around 
so that a different face was pointed outward and finally found a 
combination that worked for all four cylinders.  Mind you, I had 
not yet gotten the MSD coil, but I had two stock coils and both 
had the same results during the troubleshooting phase.  I don't 
know that a new coil would have helped or not.  I timed it at 
about 4 degrees BTDC as an initial test and the mark stayed rock 
steady on each blink of the strobe.
  A couple weeks passed before I got the MSD coil and even 
though my setup didn't have a ballast resistor originally, it 
wouldn't start until I installed the supplied ballast as per the 
instructions with the coil.  I've since gapped the plugs to .035 
and am still experimenting on the optimum setup for timing/gap.  
  Sorry about the length here, but if it happened to me, it 
might be useful to you.  Feel free to ask for more info,
Myron
------------------------------------------------------------------------
C. Myron Ware   Senior Prog/Analyst, CNE |  NASA Langley Research Center
Email c.m.ware@domain.elided             |  Hampton, Va   23681
http://cnb-www.larc.nasa.gov/~ware/cmw-home.html  (work) or
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/1370  (non-work)

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