Pertronix in 57

[mjs]

Finally getting around to putting a Pertronix unit in my 57 Convertible. Looks to be pretty simple and straight forward. Only difficulty is that since it is a 368 Y-block the dist is on the back of the intake next to the firewall and kind of awkward to get to. Also there is no notch in the housing to feed the wires through. Planning on simply drilling through the Cap unless someone thinks that might be a mistake. I really don't want to pull and drill the housing. Any thoughts?

[Steve K]

I see no reason why a hole through the cap, ideally with a rubber grommet in it for the wires to pass through, would be a problem. That is how the later model caps are made so a hole in the cap seems to create no functional problems. Is your cap a newer after market cap? I only ask because I think you could have issues drilling a hole in bakelite should your cap be of that material.

[Dan Szwarc]

You run the wire out the same hole that the old points wire came out of. You better look again.

[TonyC]

Dan's right--your distributor already has a hole in the housing, for the primary wire to protrude between the points and the negative side of the coil. Look for it; it's there. You don't need to drill another hole in the housing, and I don't recommend drilling into the cap at all. That could cause a failure of some sort, just like a small crack in the cap could. Besides, you'd likely have interference issues with the wire snagging against the spinning rotor, definitely causing failure.

---Tony

[mjs]

That's my concern. The only hole that can be accessed has an insulated stud in it that the points wire connects to. I did remove the stud but the hole is not large enough for both Pertronix wires to feed through. I could drill it out so they both fit but then the stud no longer would. I would prefer to have the ability to transition back to points/condenser in case of a Pertronix failure but then that would require modifying even more wiring. Plus the fact that I am dealing with a Y-block and the dist is on the back of the engine next to the fire wall. Not easy to get to.