1.7 Ignition Problems
 

I have a '73 1.7 with a dual carb swap that is having ignition problems.
About a month ago the car died after a big backfire then wouldn't start back up. Found I wasn't getting any spark to the plugs and changed out the distributed with a 009 and it ran fine for about two weeks.
Now I get spark randomly to the plugs and the car won't stay running. If I pull a plug and turn the engine over with the ignition on it will misfire every 5-6 seconds while I crank the engine over.

I bought new plugs, wires, a petronix svda 034 distributer with vac advance and petronix 3 ohm coil. Installed everything and now with the 034 distributer I get no spark at all. I put back in the 009 distributer and I get the same problems as before.

I have a good 12v to the coil, everything appears to be set right, 12 degrees on distributer alignment at TDC, points over #1 tower, 1-4-3-2 CW firing order, etc.

I went through the tech articles and the Hayes manual suggestions with no luck.

Any suggestions??? I'm at my wits end here....

Have you checked each piston @ TDC in relation to distributer firing order?,are the valve clearances ok?
My understanding is the 034 Pertronics must run a low resistance coil,was that in the kit?,very good set-up by the way
My setup came with a Lucas low resistance coil sorry I don't have it nearby the check the value.
Report back.

Edit sorry didn't read post properly you have the right coil,cheers.

You don't say anything about your distributor cap and rotor. What condition are they in?

multiple problems

your 034 is probably not wired correctly - else it would act same as the 009 - or you fried the Pertronix in the wiring process - go out to the Pertronix site and get the pdf troubleshooting files - they tell you how to test it - or just google pertronix & you will find a couple dozen links

i recently put an 034 in my Manx & it work s like a charm


now - as for the 009 or the oem dizzy acting the same with intermittent running - your problem is somewhere else - not in the dizzy -

most likely you have a loose wire or bad ground or bad switch or similar that reacts to being bounced & jounced

the easiest way to troubleshoot this is to direct wire from the battery to the coil (via a temp switch so you don't fry the coil !!!)

if it runs OK direct wired you can then hunt backwards thru the oem wires & switch for the culprit

if it still acts up when direct wired - it is either the coil (oops - not coil cuz you put in a new one) or something loose in the dizzy like maybe that little wire from the points to the wiring block grounding on the housing (but since 2 dizzies act that way, not too likely)

.

porschetub - I have the coil that goes with the dizzy from petronix and checked that I am at TDC.

bare 1 - everything is new including the dizzy, coil, cap, rotor, wires, plugs, etc.

larrym - the 034 is wired per the manual(only a hot and ground pretty straight forward). I'll check for the troubleshooting guide, I thunk I might have got a dud.
The grounds all test good and I get full voltage to the coil but I will try the direct power source the next go around.

Thanks for the suggestions hopefully I can get this thing figured out.

Turned out to be a bad dizzy from Pertronix. I talked to a tech and went through their tests and found it to be defective.
Had to pay to ship it back to them to get it fixed and it took about 3 weeks to receive it back. No apology, no refund for shipping, etc.....
Put it in yesterday and it started up.
Thanks for all the help.