I would like to upgrade to electronic ignition and do away with points and condenser
Is this possible ?
YES - possible and easy to do several mfgs to choose from I have installed well over a 100 Pertronix units with only 2 know failures requiring replacement - 1 was over a decade ago the owner removed the "green tape" from the mag collar and a few magnets flew out, was able to bring back to the launch under power, the second was just recently - owner installed new unit and it wouldn't fire after install - boat never left the trailer - unit was replaced. all other "failures" I have worked with have been supply voltage issues and nothing to do with the conversion kit.
will they increase performance - .......... well no , but yes........ the points are limited to their design, the conversion kits can add enhancements - typically the conversion kits are installed with all the other tune up goodies, new wires, cap, rotor, and plugs oh and then the now black magic of adjusting the timing....... so points vs kit by itself meh maybe notice no difference at all , yet I've never had a kit install that didn't need timing and idle adjusted and I've never had points set as hot as I could set a kit with same the envelope of performance meaning kit installs can have lower idle and higher over timing which if and when done correctly "more performance" will the kit create more HP - NO - wot for wot, tune for tune they're pretty equal - but I will tune it better than most
if when the kit dies - it's dead (unless its a mechanical failure as explained above) , if the points start to choke no more than a handful of skiers I've skied with would know what to do so, unless Eddie or I are in the boat with you , you'd end up getting towed anyway.
HEI DUI is head and shoulders above any conversion kit however understand they generally only come with a 20 degree swing
so having a custom curve done could be helpful
unlike Eddie, I AM a proponent of conversions.
All circumstances need to be considered, cost $100 vs $385(assuming ford), wires - use the original vs replace due to cap post differences + $65, performance difference not really any - HEI will be 50,000 volt coil or higher - your coil can be swapped with a 50k easy enough as well so $150 vs $450 your call - how many hours on your boat, how many hours do you run each year, whats your budget ? how much gas can you buy for $300 ?
good luck
Dan T
For what reason? I assume that you're referring to a conversion unit correct? I've personally seen way too many conversion units that eventually fail with incredibly wide ranges of issues.
Starting and running fine until it gets warmed up and just dies, high speed misses, poor starting, intermittent good/bad running and about everything in between.
Now, I also know of many that have been problem free, but there is also a misconception that these units will increase performance which is just not true.
When they die, you're SOL and stranded and to add insult to injury, it'll cost you another $100 to get another conversion unit to get you back on the water. If your points go bad, you can clean them up enough to get you back to the launch unscathed and it costs you about $20 for new set of points and condenser. I've had points start missing during a ski set and I was able to clean and readjust them enough by ear on the water so we could finish the set and get us back to the launch!!!! That said, I do believe that a good option is replacing the entire dizzy with an electronic unit like a DUI or MSD if you want an electronic ignition. I'm not a proponent of conversions.
If you do decide to get one, you have to make sure that you follow the instructions on what type of coil you need to run and if it requires a ballast resistor or not (I've found this little tidbit of information to be extremely confusing at times and if installed wrong, will definitely promote future failures). And the most important thing is DO NOT THROW AWAY the points base plate when you're done. If you need to go back to points, you have the base plate available, or you can sell it to someone else who wants to go back to points when their conversion fails. Points base plates are really hard to find. I see it time and time again.
