Thanks

54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

Paul - try this link: https://www.jegs.com/InstallationInstructions/100/110/110-2020.pdf

thanks, dan

Daniel Jessup

Loveland, Ohio

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

Dan - do you know if there is an instruction sheet for the Accel 2020 that I could look at.  Interested in it for my other Yblock car.
Thanks




54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

I'm a believer in putting the Duraspark II trigger into a distributor and then building up the ignition from there. The triggers are pretty much "bullet proof" - and once that portion of the ignition is in place, many options are available. After the Load-O-Matic era there were two more versions of the Y points ignition distributor - the Autolite and the Motorcraft. Putting a Duraspark II armature / reluctor into the Autolite takes a machining operation - removal of the point cam for fitment of the reluctor - but once you have that part in hand ....... all of the rest can be built out of Ford parts (or items from the auto parts store. I believe the Motorcraft parts simply swap into place. I've attached the prints so you can see how it gets done on the Autolite. Once the reluctor mounting is in place, a late 70's trigger coil will generate the pulses needed for an electronic ignition controller - Ford or other. One of the best things about this - is the ability to mount the ignition controller wherever its cool and convenient  - and not inside a hot, difficult to service at the side of the road distributor housing. The reluctor / armature unit in my Thunderbird has about 160,000 miles on it - it still makes a 1.0 V sine wave pulse just like it did in the F-150 it was originally installed in many years ago. 

Once you have the trigger in place - a Duraspark II controller and coil will run the engine. It won't be a "melt the plugs" barn burner, it will basically provide the same dwell to the coil as the original Ford points did. If you provide it with the "white wire" of the OEM Ford wiring set-up, it will monitor the solenoid and auto-retard the spark by 10º to start the engine. Just don't mount the controller right next to a hot exhaust manifold or header pipe - some dufus engineer at Ford did this on many models of late 70's vehicles and it caused no end of destroyed electronic boxes and broken down vehicles. Cool and convenient is the way to wire this.

The fact is - GM used a "smarter" brain on the HEI. And you can adapt one to use the Ford trigger and a much hotter GM factory coil. Because you want to mount the HEI controller in a convenient cooler spot (on a heat sink), it will work much more reliably than where it goes in the HEI dizzy. These controllers use a Motorola operating scheme that will pump many Amps into a properly constructed low resistance, high temp coil - and you can get them at the autoparts store at a relatively low price.



 


 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

So don't do that, then. Points & condenser have the same issue, btw. It's something to beware of I suppose, but with 20 years now I've had the basic unit it's never missed a lick yet, though I did roast a coil once, so I think the issue is exagerated just a bit. It takes a while.

i use the ford duraspark,1st 1 was om a early 302,next on 57 ranchero  292,now on my 49 mere f47 with 292y its a bit of work but found a wireing diagram then got several 302 used dist.. for the pickup coils and the point cam repacementreluctor. this parts fit  the later 57 -60  y dis. hardest part is removing the small snap ring to remove the point cam. purchased new dura spark box and coil. made the wires widens plug gap.   there is a cool option to retard the timing during crank,for the high compression guys on a hot start.  apron cost200cn dollars plus 4or 5 hrs tinkering. great results

Not to muddy the water but the ACCEL 2020 kit is what I have been using for almost a decade and it does not have the historical problems that Pertronix has experienced. The bonus is that most auto parts stores in every town in America has the kit in their inventory because the kit works with all 1957-74 Ford distributors that used points. There is only one kit, not a second version, different options, and all of that. Like the guys said, it is as easy as dropping in a set of points. 

Read this post here and see the results for yourself on my personal blog:
https://www.hotrodreverend.com/single-post/2018/08/19/1955-Ford-Part-59-1956-Ford-Four-Door-Victoria
There is a picture of the parts of the kit on that post, along with a video of a 56 Ford Victoria that took a test run after I installed the kit for the owner.

Daniel Jessup

Loveland, Ohio

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

If its Pertronix 11 and flamethrower 11 Coil the Ballast Resistor is Optional. Coil is designed to run on full 12 Volts for maximum Output but works on 9.6 V with Resistor intact.

  

I have the Pertronix II and their coilin my Tbird.  It has served me well for about four years, including a cross country trip.  Highly recommend you get the Pertronix coil if you go with the Pertronix.


54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

I installed a pertronixll with their coil and used my existing ballast resistor 5 years ago. After installation I reset the timing and have never looked back. Checked the plugs once, they looked good. Can't miss with their unit.

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.