Hi Guys,
just wanted to welcome Michael Mcclure to the owner's gallery with his GTC.
http://www.tomyang.net/cars/othercars/mcclure.htm
Tom
New Owner's gallery entry
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Joel Benatar
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Fri Sep 06, 2002 12:56 pm
- Location: San Diego California
Electronic Distributor
Hi there
I am also a 330 GTC owner. You can see my car in the gallery. For your info I am in the process of completing a total engine rebuild. The mechanics convinced me to go with an electronic ingnition. We had this done at Petronix. I will keep you informed as to the outcome, but as you stated the engine compartment does not look any different and if I ever need to orriginate the motor I can always reinstal the points.
Thanks
Joel
I am also a 330 GTC owner. You can see my car in the gallery. For your info I am in the process of completing a total engine rebuild. The mechanics convinced me to go with an electronic ingnition. We had this done at Petronix. I will keep you informed as to the outcome, but as you stated the engine compartment does not look any different and if I ever need to orriginate the motor I can always reinstal the points.
Thanks
Joel
Ah, you said the magic word: pertronix. I've been wanting to do this to my 330 GT (same 209 engine as yours), but not found anyone with the correct parts, or a spare distributor to let me experiment.
Tell us more? Did you make a new baseplate so it's an easy swap? What pieces (part numbers!) went into the kit? How did you hide the extra wire, or did you not bother? Did you take off the ballast resistors for the coils?
chris
Tell us more? Did you make a new baseplate so it's an easy swap? What pieces (part numbers!) went into the kit? How did you hide the extra wire, or did you not bother? Did you take off the ballast resistors for the coils?
chris
Hi Yale,
First, dwell changes as the points wear, but electronic ignition eliminates this mechanical switch with solid state.
Second, the triggering of the points are affected by many factors including worn distributor bushings and lobes, but electronic ignition can lessen these issues with either a magnetic pick up, or a shutter trigger.
And thirdly, with a solid state switch, you can increase voltage (to a point with Pertronics) to the ignition without premature points wear.
In a less technical explanation, Electronic ignition can give fatter, consistent spark, with more time between tune ups.
I'd love to hear more about Joel's Pertronic setup!
Tom
First, dwell changes as the points wear, but electronic ignition eliminates this mechanical switch with solid state.
Second, the triggering of the points are affected by many factors including worn distributor bushings and lobes, but electronic ignition can lessen these issues with either a magnetic pick up, or a shutter trigger.
And thirdly, with a solid state switch, you can increase voltage (to a point with Pertronics) to the ignition without premature points wear.
In a less technical explanation, Electronic ignition can give fatter, consistent spark, with more time between tune ups.
I'd love to hear more about Joel's Pertronic setup!
Tom
All valid reasons, but one major drawback is that an electronic ignition either works or it doesn't, there is no middle ground. When it fails, you are stuck wherever you are, without any warning. One minute it's working fine, the next minute it is dead.
For someone who drives many miles each year and is looking to extend the time between "tune-ups", I think that they might make sense.
However, even though points wear etc., I don't think that the wear is very fast for the miles that we are likely to be driving every year. And you have plenty of warning before things get so bad that the car won't run. If they close up suddenly for some reason, at least you can fix them in the field and make it home without a flat bed.
Just my 2 cents' worth.
John
For someone who drives many miles each year and is looking to extend the time between "tune-ups", I think that they might make sense.
However, even though points wear etc., I don't think that the wear is very fast for the miles that we are likely to be driving every year. And you have plenty of warning before things get so bad that the car won't run. If they close up suddenly for some reason, at least you can fix them in the field and make it home without a flat bed.
Just my 2 cents' worth.
John
Good point John. It's probably a good idea to keep a set of points (or two, for the Ferrari) in the tool kit.
Since my car starts and runs great, I'm going to leave well enough alone, but having the option of a Pertronics set up sound great when it becomes cheaper than points in the long run. It's true though, how many of us are going to put more than 20K miles on their V-12 often enough to constantly change points?
Tom
Since my car starts and runs great, I'm going to leave well enough alone, but having the option of a Pertronics set up sound great when it becomes cheaper than points in the long run. It's true though, how many of us are going to put more than 20K miles on their V-12 often enough to constantly change points?
Tom
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Keith Milne
- Posts: 120
- Joined: Wed Sep 04, 2002 1:34 pm
- Location: Ben Lomond, CA
Ernie's 330
Hi Michael,
Glad to see you posted here. You and I met at Ernie's place the day you bought the car, and I have ridden in that 330 many times. For those of you not familiar with Ernie Mendicki, he was an original founder on the Ferrari Owners Club and has owned MANY top shelf V12s including a Tdf, a Boano, several GTCs as well as others. Ernie was also responsible for finding my 330GT. He offered much advice and even made some parts for me. This was only two months before his passing and I was fortunate to spend some quality time with him. Ernie and I were good friends for nearly 20 years and he is dearly missed. You may be interested in knowing that I (my wife, actually) recently purchased his 1957 AC Ace Bristol. Look forward to seeing you in Monterey.
Keith
Glad to see you posted here. You and I met at Ernie's place the day you bought the car, and I have ridden in that 330 many times. For those of you not familiar with Ernie Mendicki, he was an original founder on the Ferrari Owners Club and has owned MANY top shelf V12s including a Tdf, a Boano, several GTCs as well as others. Ernie was also responsible for finding my 330GT. He offered much advice and even made some parts for me. This was only two months before his passing and I was fortunate to spend some quality time with him. Ernie and I were good friends for nearly 20 years and he is dearly missed. You may be interested in knowing that I (my wife, actually) recently purchased his 1957 AC Ace Bristol. Look forward to seeing you in Monterey.
Keith
Hi, folks-
Glad to know you guys liked my intro. Thank you, JHorton. And Joel, I've enjoyed your gallery entry, and look forward to seeing your car and its Petronics ignition. Kieth- Yes, I remember you from the day you guys prepped Ernie's cars for the Palo Alto concours. And you invited me to the dinner last Historics weekend, but I was busy with plumbing repairs (housing-, not Ferrari-related!) I'm delighted that you and your wife purchased the AC--I know it's going into very good hands.
And Yale, as for the electronic ignition, and why I would want one.
Yeah. What Tom said. Restated, I would say first is simply for a more consistent ignition event for a better running engine with fewer misfires. Maybe the mixture leans out a bit for whatever reason; the hotter spark will still fire an imperfect mixture.
Second is to keep that consistency without degradation. Without having to fiddle with it. Points wear and burn and move and have to be maintained. There's plenty to do on a Ferrari without having to set dwell and timing all the time.
I am fortunate in having a couple of friends who are going to do all the work. My old friend Tom Meadows and old racing partner, Martin Krilanovich (God, I feel old...) I believe Martin is talking about a trigger plate with six slots and two Hall-effect pickups, inside of the distributor. It would use the two coils and two distributors, with a production electronic module that Martin swears is ultra-reliable.
I mean, points can fail, too. I have a memory of my Bugeye Sprite coasting to a stop along the Silverado Trail on my way home from school on a hot June afternoon; the rubbing block had broken off of the points. I tried taping a paper match stick to the points, and it worked for about three seconds...
As for being satisfied with the way my Ferrari runs. It's got a ways to go. And, even when it's tip-top, well, it can always run better!
It will be mobile again in the next week or so. It had a pretty big problem in the cam timing department; the 7-12 bank cam was 27 degrees (crankshaft) advanced! It's all corrected now. OK, the 7-12 bank is 0.5 degrees retarded and the 1-6 bank is 1 degree advanced from spec (13 degrees BTDC @ .020" valve lift). We'll see what difference it makes in runnning!
Gotta get some sleep.
Michael
Glad to know you guys liked my intro. Thank you, JHorton. And Joel, I've enjoyed your gallery entry, and look forward to seeing your car and its Petronics ignition. Kieth- Yes, I remember you from the day you guys prepped Ernie's cars for the Palo Alto concours. And you invited me to the dinner last Historics weekend, but I was busy with plumbing repairs (housing-, not Ferrari-related!) I'm delighted that you and your wife purchased the AC--I know it's going into very good hands.
And Yale, as for the electronic ignition, and why I would want one.
Yeah. What Tom said. Restated, I would say first is simply for a more consistent ignition event for a better running engine with fewer misfires. Maybe the mixture leans out a bit for whatever reason; the hotter spark will still fire an imperfect mixture.
Second is to keep that consistency without degradation. Without having to fiddle with it. Points wear and burn and move and have to be maintained. There's plenty to do on a Ferrari without having to set dwell and timing all the time.
I am fortunate in having a couple of friends who are going to do all the work. My old friend Tom Meadows and old racing partner, Martin Krilanovich (God, I feel old...) I believe Martin is talking about a trigger plate with six slots and two Hall-effect pickups, inside of the distributor. It would use the two coils and two distributors, with a production electronic module that Martin swears is ultra-reliable.
I mean, points can fail, too. I have a memory of my Bugeye Sprite coasting to a stop along the Silverado Trail on my way home from school on a hot June afternoon; the rubbing block had broken off of the points. I tried taping a paper match stick to the points, and it worked for about three seconds...
As for being satisfied with the way my Ferrari runs. It's got a ways to go. And, even when it's tip-top, well, it can always run better!
It will be mobile again in the next week or so. It had a pretty big problem in the cam timing department; the 7-12 bank cam was 27 degrees (crankshaft) advanced! It's all corrected now. OK, the 7-12 bank is 0.5 degrees retarded and the 1-6 bank is 1 degree advanced from spec (13 degrees BTDC @ .020" valve lift). We'll see what difference it makes in runnning!
Gotta get some sleep.
Michael
Hi Michael,
I met someone a couple of years ago at the GTE Registry cocktail party that was working on an electronic ignition for Ferrari V-12s. I have the pamphlet somewhere, but I can't seem to find it right now. The theory was to time the ignition event off one distributor to alleviate the possibility of discrepancy between two distributors. I don't know how well this would work because cams twist over time, and you can't count on everything being timed accurately on these engines to assume one distributor will work.
Anybody remember who was doing this, and if it worked?
Tom
I met someone a couple of years ago at the GTE Registry cocktail party that was working on an electronic ignition for Ferrari V-12s. I have the pamphlet somewhere, but I can't seem to find it right now. The theory was to time the ignition event off one distributor to alleviate the possibility of discrepancy between two distributors. I don't know how well this would work because cams twist over time, and you can't count on everything being timed accurately on these engines to assume one distributor will work.
Anybody remember who was doing this, and if it worked?
Tom
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Joel Benatar
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Fri Sep 06, 2002 12:56 pm
- Location: San Diego California
Hi Guys
Once I get my car back I will take a lot of pictures of the Pertronix system to show you that it looks identical to the orriginal. My car is being rebuilt at Alan Taylor company. His guys recommended this to me as they have used Pertronix on some of the other cars that they have retored. The actual conversion was done by Pertronix themselves and to my knowledge(a bit limited) Marvin at Pertronix told me that he used 2 six cylinder systems. I told him that I was going to let some of you guys know about this. His phone number is (909) 599-5955. He quoted me $300 per distributor. My car is fired up and running. We are just doing some final adjustments and hopefully by the end of next week I will have it back. By the way any of you that are going to Pebble Alan Taylor has 2 type 57 Buggatti's and a Cord that are just wonderful.
Joel
Once I get my car back I will take a lot of pictures of the Pertronix system to show you that it looks identical to the orriginal. My car is being rebuilt at Alan Taylor company. His guys recommended this to me as they have used Pertronix on some of the other cars that they have retored. The actual conversion was done by Pertronix themselves and to my knowledge(a bit limited) Marvin at Pertronix told me that he used 2 six cylinder systems. I told him that I was going to let some of you guys know about this. His phone number is (909) 599-5955. He quoted me $300 per distributor. My car is fired up and running. We are just doing some final adjustments and hopefully by the end of next week I will have it back. By the way any of you that are going to Pebble Alan Taylor has 2 type 57 Buggatti's and a Cord that are just wonderful.
Joel