I own a 1955 T Bird and installed a Mallory electronic ignition system about 10 years ago and it's always had a restarting issue whenever the engine was hot. I'm sick and tired of tolerating this behavior and I'd welcome any feedback regarding favorable experiences with other brand name equipment.
Electronic Ignition System
- Thread starter DonEGee
- Start date
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Electronic ignition
I have a Mallory electronic ignition system that was giving me problems restarting after the engine was hot. Finally traced it to a simple broken wire from the coil; a mechanic at Fabulous Restorations in Fort Lauderdale got me straightened out. He also adjusted the valves and set the timing to make the engine run more smooth. He determined that my Demon carb. was too high performance rated for the 292 cu in. engine ... it would run better with a smaller throat. Another good observation was the necessity for a vacuum advance on the distributor. The '55's didn't have that feature. I'll be looking into if Mallory makes such a product?
I have a Mallory electronic ignition system that was giving me problems restarting after the engine was hot. Finally traced it to a simple broken wire from the coil; a mechanic at Fabulous Restorations in Fort Lauderdale got me straightened out. He also adjusted the valves and set the timing to make the engine run more smooth. He determined that my Demon carb. was too high performance rated for the 292 cu in. engine ... it would run better with a smaller throat. Another good observation was the necessity for a vacuum advance on the distributor. The '55's didn't have that feature. I'll be looking into if Mallory makes such a product?
bromhead
Active member
problems
I did a pertronix on mine,made for a 55 12volt,,the car ran terrible,,queations and answers were all over the place from every tech source,,recommended not recommended,,the only real solution was to return the item as defective,I didnt just for credit,points are easier
I did a pertronix on mine,made for a 55 12volt,,the car ran terrible,,queations and answers were all over the place from every tech source,,recommended not recommended,,the only real solution was to return the item as defective,I didnt just for credit,points are easier
Thanks for your reply, but the Mallory system seems not to be the problem as it is more of an issue of an aftermarket carb I installed (Demon 650) ... too high CFM rating for the 292 engine. I'm looking into an Edelbrock carb with 500-550 CFM's and seems to be an ideal carb to install.
gbhrps
Well-known member
DonEgee,
I'm surprised that you don't have the vacuum advance on your TPot carb setup.
My 55 is dead stock, has the Holley 4000 carb, has never been messed with to my knowledge (only 26 000 original miles), and has a vacuum advance hard piped to the distributor.
A look at the 2010 catalogue from Mac's Antique Auto Parts shows the vacuum pipe listed as part #B5S-12371-A.
Yours apparently has been removed over the years, either that or the distributor was changed?
I'm surprised that you don't have the vacuum advance on your TPot carb setup.
My 55 is dead stock, has the Holley 4000 carb, has never been messed with to my knowledge (only 26 000 original miles), and has a vacuum advance hard piped to the distributor.
A look at the 2010 catalogue from Mac's Antique Auto Parts shows the vacuum pipe listed as part #B5S-12371-A.
Yours apparently has been removed over the years, either that or the distributor was changed?
if mallory DOES (NOT SURE) MAKE A DIST. it will not have the correct tach drive unit to drive your tach....that's why all of us went to the 'KIT' to put in our stock, tach drive distributors....we still could drive our tachs and have electronic Ign...i recently tried to replace my lower dist. bushing in my stock 55 t-bird tach drive dist..i did not know my 50+ year dist. was cracked and when i tried to press out the bushing, the dist. fell apart in two pieces.. (BUMMER)..calling around to replace it, i got quotes of $700 and up (mostly up)....called Mallory and they did not have anything to fit that had a FORD type tach drive...only one vender did..(and it had a vac. advance unit on it) it was MSD...had no tach drive, but it was $500, brand new, dropped right in, no hassles, of course it was electronic,....only i also had to buy the 'matching' Ign. coil..($40 more)..and the stock plug wire ends were different, so i bought new wire with correct ends..(my wires were 10+ years old and needed to go anyway..if your wires are good, you can just but the 'correct' dist. cap ends and boots and crimp them on...on the tach mess, i bought a 3 1/4 inch sun pro tach from summit racing online catalog..it fit the stock tach hole so well you almost can't tell it is not the ford unit...and it's new..(my 50+ old tach was 'buzzing a tad) there goes another $400 bucks for that i did have to buy..the sun-pro was $60....if your tach is good, you can sell it..same with your stock diet..prestige t-bird in calif. will buy them....later, ed mlynek in ga.......706-376-7514
