[TR] Pertinox Wiring and General Comment

Randall TR3driver at ca.rr.com
Sun Oct 31 08:27:47 MST 2010


> But the thing that took forever to find in Archives was that 
> for the Pertonix, the wire in the harness coming from the key 
> goes to the positive coil terminal for a negative ground car. 
>  This must be reversed to the negative terminal when running 
> points.  So, for the record, here it is in one place.  

Only problem is, that is NOT correct.  The harness wire should go to the
positive coil terminal for negative ground, even when running points.  The
coil is always connected according to the marked polarity, and since the
points in the distributor connect to ground, the distributor wire should go
to the coil terminal that matches the ground polarity.

>  Am keeping the old TR 
> distributor with wire screws as a spare in the car.  Power 
> differential feels considerable.

That says to me that you had a defective cap or wires.  Should be no
performance difference at all.  However, the screw style cap does seem to
frequently lead to problems with "carbon core" wires, and using the MGB cap
(with push-in high tension terminals) is one solution to the problem.

> Lastly, I happened to notice that one of the carb damper 
> screws had come loose and was hanging on the lip of the 
> resevoir.  What exactly would be the symptoms for that?

Engine stumbles (loses power) or even sputters when you open the throttle,
but will eventually pick up and run smoothly if you hold constant throttle.
With only one loose, the effect is not too severe, but with both loose it
can quit running entirely if you suddenly floor the throttle.

Randall


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