77 911s: points or no points

[carlosR]

I know I need to just look so forgive me but I seem to find conflicting info on this. Do I have points, assuming all stock?

[BURN-BROS]

Yes

[Gunter]

Yes, and you can make it point-less with a Petronix or similar item installed into the distributor; do a search on this.

[74-911]

Originally Posted by Gunter

Yes, and you can make it point-less with a Petronix or similar item installed into the distributor; do a search on this.

Petronix is one of the best upgrades you can make...

[carlosR]

Thanks and I will be removing the distributor cap and see if an upgrade was already done. The previous owner seemed to be "up" on doing these things like the airbox relief, headstud repair, etc. Now to brave the snow drifts out to my garage......

[frankc]

I also contemplated going with the Petronix unit to replace the mechanical points. And then, while I was at, it to replace the Permatune CD box with an MSD for a better spark. But the more I thought about it, it wasn't just the points that bothered me, but the nature of the whole mechanical distributor thing - all the way from the crank driving the shaft, to the points, to the advance mechanism(s), to the rotor/cap. It just seems like the entire system is some type of Rube Goldberg whose purpose is to simply time the ignition and deliver the spark to the appropriate plug. Granted, it was an effective solution when it was designed over 100 years ago, but I just saw too many moving parts and variables in the system to be comfortable with it, especially given the solutions available today.

I decided to replace the entire ignition system with an Clewett/Electromotive XDi2. As with most projects, this is another where I slid far down the slippery slope. I don't have the whole system installed yet (many other projects in the works), but I'm looking forward to tweaking my timing curves to yield the best performance I can out of my 2.7. Plus, if I ever decide to convert to twin-plug heads down the road, all I need to do is purchase 3 more coils instead of a twin distributor system (even more moving parts!) for the ignition piece.

I'm not suggesting that you do the same, just thought you might like to know what your options are as I've researched this a bit already.

Frank

[Gunter]

Originally Posted by carlosR

Thanks and I will be removing the distributor cap and see if an upgrade was already done. The previous owner seemed to be "up" on doing these things like the airbox relief, headstud repair, etc. Now to brave the snow drifts out to my garage......

Sounds good.

"Airbox relieve" means Pop-off Valve?
Head stud repair done with case-saver inserts in the case?
Were the mechanical chain tensioners upgraded to hydraulic tensioners?
With proper repair and upgrades, the 2.7 can be a good engine.

Have fun.