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6 cylinder ignition upgrade

casadejohnson

Bronco Alchemist
Joined
Jan 21, 2005
Messages
3,587
My quest to milk a little more power from my 170cid inline 6 continues. I'm starting with the cheap and the free upgrades. Today, I started by cutting away the deep shag carpet that was keeping me from mashing the skinny pedal all the way to the floor....major improvement. The shag was so thick it would not push down far enough to open the throttle all the way. The next move was to advance the timming a few degrees. Not a huge improvement but noticable. I plan on adding a pertronix ignitor and ditching the points. Unfortunatly, its not available locally and I have not gotten it ordered yet. I also plan on opening up the plug gap a little to get a larger spark. This is where the question comes in. I should probably replace the original coil with something a little more powerful, correct? I started looking at aftermarket coils like the accel super coil and the crane cams coils that my local parts store sells. They say that the coils have Max Voltage 42000v. I have no idea if thats good or just some BS they put on the box. Is this an improvement over the stock unit? Any suggestions?
 

NMWILLY

Jr. Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2007
Messages
135
Loc.
Hendersonville, NC
I too have a little 170 in my '66.
Trouble is I'm looking to take advantage of modern technology without being obvious, because I want my Bronco to look stock. So I put in a pertronix ... great upgrade. I also got the pertronix coil, black one to look close to stock. Not sure if it helped but it's new and unobtrusive. I think high power coils are a bunch of wasted money if your running a stock 170. I also opened up the plug gap to .045 and that seemed to help a little and I advanced the timing. I used a vacuum gauge to set the timing, my damper has probably moved some in 42 years so I don't trust it. So far all good.

My next upgrade is a new carb from Pony Carburetors.

http://www.ponycarburetors.com/default.asp?page=faqdetail&id=35

They have modernized an 1100 ford carb and I think it will be a must have performance upgrade ... especially for me because I want a stock look.

Soooo ... with a pertronix and pony carb I think I'm done for performance improvements for the stock 170.

I am thinking about putting in a 200. The only real noticeable outside difference is it has 5 freeze plugs instead of 3. Inside it's a much better engine. With that I might go with a 264 cam and do some other internals but for now I'm just going to sit tight with the 170.

Check out pony carbs ... if you get an upgraded 1100 before me ... let me know what you think!
 
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OP
casadejohnson

casadejohnson

Bronco Alchemist
Joined
Jan 21, 2005
Messages
3,587
Mine is also a 66 and I want it to be pretty stock looking. I'll have to check the carbs out. I was considering going to to a 2bbl but have not decided for sure.
 

NMWILLY

Jr. Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2007
Messages
135
Loc.
Hendersonville, NC
My opinion is a 2 bbl won't get you much. The 170 can only suck so much air and too much carb is easy to do. Besides what does having 2 bbls do for you if your stuffing it back down a single hole in the intake? Only so much can go through that hole at one time.

The best you can do in my opinion is to optimize the fuel, fire and timing. The 170 engine is what it is. Ignition upgrade, carb upgrade and set the timing to take advantage of those things.

Otherwise your looking at going with a motor that can do more.

Cherry out the 170 and then see if it's enough for what you want. If not then start thinking of options ... 200? V8? ect.
 

DirtDonk

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
47,275
I should probably replace the original coil with something a little more powerful, correct? I started looking at aftermarket coils like the accel super coil and the crane cams coils that my local parts store sells. They say that the coils have Max Voltage 42000v. I have no idea if thats good or just some BS they put on the box. Is this an improvement over the stock unit? Any suggestions?

You're on the right track. Even if the new coil was rated the same as stock one, it's likely going to be an improvement anyway. If your coil is 42 years old chances are it's not putting out the same quality of spark it did when new.
There are definitely cheap coils with "optimistic" claims, but even still, they're probably just as good or better than the old one. So it's hard to say if the claims are BS or not. More voltage output is still better.
But you definitely don't have to have one of those monster Super Coils to get what you want from your ignition. At least not in this case. They DO work as claimed usually though. Just not needed for a stock 170 that you want to look stock too.

To keep the near-stock look, but still get more power, use one of the black cannister types from one of the aftermarket manufacturers. I prefer the epoxy filled type to the oil filled type myself. Just because of their theoretically higher heat and vibration resistance. Not that a cheapy replacement couldn't handle what you're dishing out. They're just better.

Both ACCEL (part #8140HV) and Pertronix have that type, as do others probably. Slightly different body shapes too, so you can look at each one to see if it more closely matches your old one.
The ACCEL looks more like the Ford types that were on the later V8's, but the Pertronix looks like most other coils so might be a good match for yours. Check them out to see.
I work with ACCEL, so am naturally biased, but I've always liked the Pertronix stuff too and use it still. Theirs is a fine coil and since you're ordering an Ignitor II from someone, you could just order the coil at the same time.

Too bad Mallory doesn't make a black version of their 29217 or 29219 coils. The labels on them look much more old-fashioned and would give it that nice "old school" look. Even though they're obviously not Ford stock, they'd give it a more period correct look than most others.
Hmm, you could always buy a new Ford coil, ya know? Bet it's twice the price or more of the others (if it's even still available). Or you can get a Motorcraft through your local autoparts store at a better price and it might be close to your original too. Worth a look-see anyway.

Oh, and with most of those coils and ignition products, you can do away with your original resistor wire too. You want a full 12 volts to go to both the new ignition module and that type of coil for getting the most bang from your spark.

Paul
 

bosshoff

Contributor
Sr. Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2004
Messages
713
1970 I-6 170

I've got the same situation as you. I did the Petronix Ignitor, Petronix wires, and Petronix coil. Touched the key, and it started instantly. Runs like a top. (Don't forget the wires.) I also need a new exhaust, as I only have a open pipe about 3 feet downstream of the exhaust manifold. I was looking online at a Ford 6-cylinder forum, and best I could gather was that a long tube header would give a pretty good bang for the buck.
 

DirtDonk

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
47,275
Is Clifford Performance still in business? Probably, though you don't hear much about them lately. They're a great resource for some pretty cool 6-cylinder performance goodies.
Do a search and see if you can find a website.

Paul
 
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