Pertronix and plug wires

[George Lollar]

Pertronix in its installation instructions says with emphasis not to use solid plug wires with their system.  I believe this is in conflict with our recommendations to use solid copper non-resistant leads; what have 113 owners done with this?  What are the consequences of ignoring this instruction?

[Benz Dr.]

Not much that I know of. 560SL's use electronic ignition and solid wire cables. You can run into radio interference with MDS systems using high voltage but our cars use relatively low voltage systems.

[rbouch8828]

I have Pertronix in my 1970 280 SL and have recently had problems with one or two cylinders not firing.

I have been using the Bosch spark plug wires that were appropriate for my car with the standard ignition and didn’t switch to the Pertronix recommended wires, but I am now wondering if this might have been a mistake.

Perhaps my misfiring cylinder can be attributed to having not changed the spark plug wires?

Roland

[Lori]

From past discussions, it was said that the only issue with staying with the solid core was that the pertronix unit could get fried by a stray spark. 

https://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=37958.msg277662#msg277662

[rbouch8828]

I thought that the report I had read was saying that there could be damage to the wires too.

[mdsalemi]

Roland,

I installed and have been running a Pertronix since 2011. It’s in a rebuilt cast iron -051 distributor.

My wire set is that recommended for our cars. Solid copper core. It’s Beru wire, with Beru shielded resistor plug connectors. New around that time.

I’m running per the Pertronix suggestion their classic (black) Flamethrower II coil.

Also per their suggestion the plug gaps opened a bit, I think by about .003 or so.

No issues whatsoever. Bosch wire sets are carbon core (I think!) at least the first set I bought for my Pagoda years ago.

If you keep the engine bay clean and wires clean it’s unlikely you’ll have random spark issues.

I’m running NGK BP6 plugs.

[rbouch8828]

Ok, Michael,

Thanks for the info on your setup. Sorry, what are the Beru references?

Best,
Roland

[Benz Dr.]

Roland,

I installed and have been running a Pertronix since 2011. It’s in a rebuilt cast iron -051 distributor.

My wire set is that recommended for our cars. Solid copper core. It’s Beru wire, with Beru shielded resistor plug connectors. New around that time.

I’m running per the Pertronix suggestion their classic (black) Flamethrower II coil.

Also per their suggestion the plug gaps opened a bit, I think by about .003 or so.

No issues whatsoever. Bosch wire sets are carbon core (I think!) at least the first set I bought for my Pagoda years ago.

If you keep the engine bay clean and wires clean it’s unlikely you’ll have random spark issues.

I’m running NGK BP6 plugs.

Only the coil wire is carbon core on new Bosch sets. I change them back over to metal core for all applications. That one foot piece of carbon core will have at least 8K ohms of resistance. Metal core will have 0. YMMV

[mdsalemi]

Ok, Michael,

Thanks for the info on your setup. Sorry, what are the Beru references?

Best,
Roland

Beru is/was one of the OEM suppliers for electrical parts on our cars. Ballast resistors, ignition wire, and the metal shielded spark plug connectors (among some other parts I’m sure) can be made by Beru. (Bosch as well).

[rbouch8828]

Many thanks to Dr. Benz and to Michael!

Best,
Roland