308 GT4 Pertronix -- no acceleration past 4000rpms

After tons of struggles, I got the 76 GT4 started and timed with the Ignitor II. Seemed to be just fine in the garage, but under load at more than 1/2 throttle or anything above 4K rpms, it feels like everything is misfiring. Just flutter with an occasional random full fire.

Ignitor II is mounted to the rear dizzy with the front as the slave. New Flamethrower coils and coil wires. Timed to 7 degrees at idle...which is what it was with the points. Points still in the front dizzy, but not connected to the coil.

I'm baffled!

 

Do you know if you got the 3ohm or 1.5ohm Flamethrower ? Pertronix techs recommends 1.5ohm for high revving engines. A 3ohm coil will/could create misfire at higher rpm.

 

Have you cleaned and checked the mechanical advance is operating correctly?

 

+1 for at least putting a timing light on it to verify if the advance mechanism is quasi-working. Another item to check/re-verify that can give that symptom is improper phasing of the dist rotor(s) to the dist cap(s).

 

I had something similar and it turned out that my ignition map got corrupted somehow...maybe a bad ground or something but once I got the correct map loaded, everything was fine. Can you hook up a laptop?

 

The coils are PerTronix 45001 Flame-Thrower II 45,000 Volt 0.6 ohm Coils. My understanding is they are specifically designed for the Ignitor II ignition system.

I can't hook up a laptop, as this is a stock Pertronix Ignitor II system for the 308s and the car was running fine (and assuming mechanical advance was working fine) on points.

I checked rotor phasing on the rear coil, but not the front.

 

You are absolutely correct. I was thinking of the Ignitor 1 and 40Kv coils.

 

Perhaps a moot point now, but based on the above statement, why switch ????
Just curious.

 

It was hard to start and I was getting sporadic bangs out of the exhaust when the car was warm at idle -- like the spark might be weak and fuel was burning in the exhaust. As it turned out, one of the relatively new Red Coils had started arcing -- but I didn't figure that out until the Pertronix was installed, so it was at that time I installed the Flamethrower II coils.

I'm thinking now that maybe I'll get rid of the spark plug extenders and go directly from the Taylor wires to the plugs to try to reduce the number of possibilities. (Now if I can just find the plug ends to screw back on!)

I also sent a product support email to Pertronix to see what they come up with. If there's a chance that it's simply just a bad unit, I don't want to chase my tail for another six months.

 

I have 2 gt4s and they both scream with regular points. just my 2 cents.

 

Out of the dozens of cars I've owned in the recent past for which electronic ignition conversions were available, this is the first time I've actually done one. In all honesty, I'm regretting it, because I simply haven't driven my car in over a year now and I'm missing it. (Don't fret, y'all, I drove the 328 GTS 70-plus miles last weekend.)

 

I had Pertronix installed on my former 308 and the before and after difference was amazing. Faster starts, significant boost in power and a noticeable difference between the stock coils and the Flamethrower version. I would recommend that you stay the course and find a solution.

 

I don't know Petromix, but with the OEM coils and ignition a misfiring is usually due to: Ignition caps lack if insulation and mixture inside them, spark cables gone, fuel mixture too rich due to some cars tuning problems. Written in decreasing probability.

Good luck

Ciao

 

I owned my car for about 2 weeks when the points head came loose and ended up with a intermittent spark. I was driving and temporarily lost the front bank which ended up loading the cylinders with fuel and then reignited. Than BANG and it felt like I blew the muffler off. I towed it home and did the conversion. This was back in 2001 and had the dizzy rebuilt and converted by a guy named Don King in CA. I used Bosch blue coils which were recommended by Don and once installed never touched them again and I assume the new care taker who bought the car 2 years ago still has them in. 77 GTB and ran up to the red line without a sputter. Once you fix the problem you shouldn't have to touch it again.

 

+1

Never did I see any Dyno results that changing to E-ignition increased engine power over PROPERLY adjusted/operating points/mechanical advance. And engines turning far higher RPM than these Ferrari motors used points in the old days so that's no issue at all.

Of course, E-ignitions don't require the annoying periodic maint/lubrication/point replacement so, in that regard, it's a far better system, especially for emissions. So I'm not suggesting that an E-system isn't a good thing BUT when you couple conversion problems like this with the relatively low mileage that most of these cars see...I don't think there's any benefit in replacing a properly-operating OEM system.

 

I'm scratching my head about how this would work.
Doesn't the Ignitor II kit for dual distributor setups consist of two Ignitor modules. One for each distributor?

Talking about those electronic ignitions in general. I fitted an Ignitor I on a simple 4-cyl Alfa distributor ten years ago. Never touched it since, besides an occasional drop of oil for the shaft and occasional cleaning of the cap.

Never had a problem and I am amazed about the reliability.

Reason was not, that I did expect any performance improvements. It was simply, because the parts quality of points got worse and worst.
But the car actually starts easier and is running smoother. Even with the age old stock Bosch coil.
Had a Flamethrower coil in the beginning, but it did last around 6 months, when suddenly the car refused to start.
Then I dug out the old blue Bosch coil from my trash can and reinstalled it. Like said, no more problems since 2006.

Best Regards
Martin

 

The rule of thumb should apply: 90 % of ignition problems are fuel problems and vice versa.

 

I run Petronix, through a single dizzy, as mine is a single model uK spec. I had similar problems a year ago. I traced it down to a faulty regulator on the alternator overcharging on load, which blew the Pertronix. I have never had any other problems with this set up. Might be worth checking your getting around 12v max feed to the coils as you got through everything else. Keep up beat it's a great system once in correctly.

 

That reminds me, the previous owner's mechanic told me he had trouble with the Pertronix on my GT4 and it turned out to be resistance in the old wiring reducing voltage at the Pertronix to 8v. Running a new 12v line via a relay cured the problem.

 

I had already thought about too little voltage to the system. I never thought about too much to the Pertronix system though due to an alternator issue. This is my next check.

By the way -- mixture is pretty spot-on. And since I haven't driven it in a while, I soaked the jets in carb spray to un-gunk them.

 

Do we assume that you removed and rewired the ceramic resistors?

 

+1. Set up properly the work great

 

Swap the pertronix to the other dizzy. Check if problem persists. I did that. Turns out one of my advance curves was horrible. Had it recurved by a local shop. You can swap in less than two hours I bet.