So far I've read two schools of thought. One is its ok to leave the resistor wire and the other is to replace it with a 12v.
Well unless they've changed their instructions, which is entirely possible now that they have at least three different Ignitor setups, there are no two schools of though except for one correct way, and one incorrect way.
Of course, then there's the "both ways" school too, depending on what parts you use with the Pertronix distributor conversion, but more on that in a minute...
Check their instructions to be sure I'm right, but for the distributor itself you
MUST HAVE A FULL 12v running to the Red wire. Period.
However, the ignition coil may still need the resistor wire. This might be where you hear two different ways to run things.
So my solution to that is to use the correct coil that has the proper details to run full voltage too, and just run 12v to everything.
This avoids any confusion in the future and any trouble with a resistor wire.
Where the traditional confusion with Pertronix came was from their instructions.
They clearly showed how to connect their unit either with 12v or with a resistor. The problem was it wasn't as clear as they thought and most people have a hard time with wiring diagrams anyway.
They showed the Red distributor wire being connected to the coil positive to get it's power from. But that is
ONLY acceptable if the coil has 12 volts. If the coil is run from a resistor wire, or ballast resistor, then you keep the coil connected that way, but find a completely separate 12v source for the Ignitor in the distributor.
Over the years they tried to clear that up, but with only limited results.
If I want to rip out the resistor wire, I can simply cut it out and replace it with a standard wire from the ignition switch, correct?
Depends on how yours is wired. Different year Broncos had different setups at the back of the ignition switch. Check yours out and see if it's regular Red w/green wire coming out the back, then transitions to the pale puke brown/pink resistor wire.
If so, yes you can cut the Red w/green wire a few inches away from the key and splice a new regular wire into that and run it through the firewall. Or if you can find the other end of the resistor wire where it converges with regular wire up near the firewall, you can cut it there and use the factory wire the rest of the way under the hood.
My guess is that most people find it easier to just run the new wire from the key to the engine, bypassing the whole thing.
If yours has the pink/brown resistor wire running straight into the ignition switch, instead of cutting it after the switch I would pull the strain relief (connector thingy) off of the back of the switch and replace the entire resistor wire with a new one with a new connector right there at the switch itself. Eliminating any vestiges of the old resistor wire.
Check out the back of your switch and see what you get.
Another option if yours is resistor all the way is to get one of these:
Ignition Switch Repair Connector and start new.
Notice the bullet-style push connector on the Red w/green wire? Some year Fords had the resistor wire literally plugged in to the wiring from there. Very simple to replace if one went bad, and if you find a new one for sale it will have the mating connector to that one already on it.
As with anything Ford however, that was not on all years.
Also i see many options for pertronix. Which should i go for a 302? The regular 1281? Should i go ahead and get the pertronix coil as well?
Any of them will give you the benefit of better spark and no more points. I like them more the more expensive they get (I, II, or III) as each one has an advantage over the previous generations. But I'm not sure you'll feel the differences between them. I've only ever used the Ignitor I in any of my cars, so don't have direct comparisons to the II and III versions. Different members here have used the different ones though, so hopefully they'll pop in and give you their opinions.
If I was doing another one, I'd try the III just because. Never had any trouble with the I, just like to try the "new and improved" versions of things.
If you're on a tighter budget, nothing wrong with going with the less expensive series-I though.
And yes, I would absolutely upgrade the coil. If only so you can run 12v to everything and never worry about a resistor wire again.
I could never remember which ohm range did what and when, so I updated our website to include information on which coils were good to go with 12v on a V8 engine. But we don't use the Pertronix numbers in house, so you may need to get that info from their site.
The canister coils (look just like stock) are the simplest, and fit right where you put your old one if you're not moving it somewhere else.
I prefer e-core style coils (like Ford EFI little square box versions) because they have more spark energy and don't usually have an issue with overheating. Both types of coils have a long history of line life however, so it's not like your factory style canister was going to die in two years. Both were used by the factories. Here again though is that "newer might be better" mindset I have, which is why I give that kind of stuff a try on most rigs. My pickup has an Accel version of the e-core coil on it and it was a definite improvement over the old one.
I ran Jacobs and Pertronix canister coils on several vehicles for years and never had any issues either.
One last type of coil that's out there, and one that I use on my air cooled Turbo Corvair is the epoxy filled canister style. You might consider that the compromise rather than the best of both worlds, as it's got good performance but, using solid epoxy rather than liquid oil as a cooling and protection medium makes it more vibration resistant as well as having some higher performance than some standard coils.
I had one as a spare for my Bronco as well, if the Jacobs coil ever died. But it didn't... However it spent many a mile in the Corvair under higher heat and vibration conditions than most Broncos might put it to, so it's worked well as well.
Sorry for the long-winded reply, but it's hard to say there's "just one best for you" in most cases. But if in doubt, and you have a place to mount it, I do like the e-core style.
In case you weren't sure, this is the type I mean:
E-core for Ignitor III
This one in particular is specifically for the Ignitor III unit. But they have them for the other Ignitors as well.
Paul
