Front suspension removal

[Charles Johns]

It is out! The steering required the HOT WRENCH but it came apart. Now to rebuild as I tilt the body...after removing the rearend. Plan to drop the body 1" all around or maybe 2" in front. Got the hardtop, windshield, and a few other gaskets-rubber in the other day...over $600.00 worth, and I don't have door, trunk, or hood stuff. I know...boot and bonnet. I'll eventually get accustomed to that. That (seals) is one thing that is much higher for sportscars over street rods. The more I work on it the better I like the overall engineering. The front suspension holds everything on the one crossmember. With better shocks and a few poly bushings in certain places, it should be brought into the 21st century. I did "retro" to a points distributor though, that may...or may not, have PerTronix installed. My 65 Mustang 6 ran both from time-to-time just to compare, and I felt the points ran better. That is what prompted me to check the MSD site for their "Points/HEI/Performance HEI" side-by-side small block chevy comparison. Points did as good as either up to over 5,000 rpm, and I ain't going there with a .75 overdrive. First, I got speed out of my system years ago on the strip in a 40 Ford coupe, and on 2-wheelers (A very nice Moto Guzzi SP-650). The live axle on leafs is not high tech but works fine on the street with minor mods.

 

[Charles Johns]

Someday I will figure out how to properly add pix.

 

[Bill Blue]

As far as ignition is concerned, I think that 5000 rpm on a small block equates to 10,000 on a 1725. The only failure components removed by electronic ignition are points and capacitor. It is a lot easier to carry spare "dinosaur" parts than spare electronic parts that replaced them. For toppers, installing the modern stuff does not remove the possibility of failure.

The live axle leafs do not require mods to work fine on the street. Just bring them up to "like new" condition. Having said that, I think that liners between all leafs is worth while. I will duck rebuttal arguments by stating the liners improve the springs to better than "fine". All I know is that my Alpine surprised me after the spring rebuild.
Bill

 

[Charles Johns]

I told a young car guy at a club meeting I ran points in my daily driver 1940 Ford coupe with a modified 1968 289 and 3-speed. Driving to and from work for 12 years I never had trouble, and I changed points once a year at 10,000 to 12,000 miles. Because I am a car guy I checked them around 3 to 5 thousand miles for gap and pits, but they were usually fine. The condenser did its job keeping points arc to a minimum. I never have understood the bad press points get. YES, YES, YES, points must be changed about once a year, and checked from time-to-time, but car guys open the hood/bonnet just for fun anyway. At 3,000 mile oil changes I check everything that keeps me on the road. Don't most guys? I worked with electronics for 20 years and understand their advantages, but they have faults also. Simple fits me perfect...just ask my wife of 54 years.

 

[MikeH]

I ran a Pertronix ignitor in my 65 289 Mustang as a daily driver, 75 miles a day, for over 12 years and shorter commutes for 11 years before that, with no issues. I did, however, carry a set of points and condenser in the glove box. The only problem I ever had was a coil failure.

 

[Bill Blue]

I think that most problems with point ignition systems were due to soft rubbing blocks and poor QC of capacitors. We were told to always change capacitors, which meant that about half the time good capacitors were thrown away and replaced with faulty ones. When I started inspecting the removed points and keeping the old capacitor if the points were not pitted, my ignition problems went away.

Bill

 

[Charles Johns]

Bill, if my points were not pitted I kept the condenser. When I explain to younger car guys, points worked fine for 75 years but could not be easily adapted to work with computers. Electronic ignitions can be turned on and off with a computer, and do it more accurately. Those of us who maintained our cars understood the job points did, so we kept things in tune. MSD's test showed points made as much or more HP than HEI factory or HEI Performance systems, at normal rpm. That was 20 years ago on a slightly modified chevy V8. Today's systems are better but my reason for using points is simplicity without computers. Think of it this way, if a spark lights a fire do you need a blowtorch? Once the spark ignites the fuel-air mixture, the voltage no longer climbs, so if 15,000 volts lights the mixture 50,000 volts is not necessary. A 4 or 6 cylinder can build voltage at higher RPM due to fewer lobes on the dizzy cam, allowing more time to build primary coil voltage. I made my decision after two years studying this matter. I still have a new-in-the-box HEI distributor for my old 6-cylinder Mustang I never used. YES, electronics can be better, but points can be improved also. Do not use "off-shore" parts. They have given points a bad name. I use an ACCEL 8140 coil, a MSD or JEGS .8/1 ohm ignition resistor, BWD SELECT (Use best available materials) points, rotor, condenser, cap with brass contacts, ACCEL 7mm solid copper wires cut as short as possible, and Autolite platinum or Iridium sparkplugs, gapped a little wider than stock (.034 to .038). I build my own distributors using a later unit I adapt to points. If I can locate an old SUN distributor machine, I'll check the curve to be sure advance is spot-on. With 36 degrees total advance in by 2900 rpm, my spark should be hotter than stock, dependable at all rpm, and easy to maintain with spare parts kept in the car. I have used PerTronix and may do so in the Sunbeam, but I will start with points.

 

[Charles Johns]

After second sentence word "computers", in previous paragraph, add "they want to know why". PROOF, PROOF, PROOF.