[64speed]

The summit ready to run worked fine for me, I only sold it for the sniper conversion

[ZeGermanHam]

As for points systems being tried & true, I've heard a LOT of negative commentary over the past year or two on replacement parts that are available for them these days, even service parts sold by so-called reputable brands. Lots of junk right out of the box. I think you can achieve a reliable ignition either way you go, but both are susceptible to poor quality parts on the market. The trick is to find quality parts whichever setup (points or HEI) you choose, which is sometimes easier said than done unfortunately.

For me personally, I went with HEI from a company (Performance Distributors) that I can call and speak on the phone with easily if there is an issue.

[geeteeohguy]

Originally Posted by Schurkey

First: Do you have room for a plain ol' big-cap HEI? Kinda guessing the extra carb makes the distributor clearance impossible.

A converted points distributor as done by Ignitionman is probably ideal. I did not know that SunTuned did this also. I'd trust him, too.

Nothing better than OEM (sometimes OEM-style aftermarket) ignition parts, even if they're put together in ways the various manufacturers didn't intend.

I wouldn't give ten cents for a points distributor, except as an oil-pump priming tool or a core to upgrade with magnetic-pickup parts.

I feel just the opposite. Recently retired after 42 years in the auto industry and all my points cars run original distributors. Both GTO's for the past 40 years I've owned and driven them, with zero issues. Over 300k miles. Same with the Corvette. Had many cars towed in with burnt out mag pick-ups and modules, not so with the old points ignitions. The points wear and need replacement every 15k miles or so, though. I would not hesitate to run an original distributor with NOS Delco or Filko or Niehoff points and condensor. Stay away from the unisets. My '67 GTO has 256,000 on it and my '65 has 162,000 on the clock. Still running strong.

[Charlie Brengun]

First off thank you all for all the answers. Reading through them I guess points or HEI are both good options as long as you have a good quality distributor to start with (ie not an old ebay worn out one or a cheap china special).

I think the points + CD box setup is not for me.
Neither is the progression ignition option. I just have my doubts as to how long that thing will live and how good that bluetooth 4.0 compatibility is in 10 years time when tablets and phones have moved on to higher versions of bluetooth.
The DUI option, I read on their website they don't do (spring and weight) kits that allow me to customize the curve which is what I do want to do. So I'll probably skip them as well.

I won't drive my car over 5000 miles a year if that, so either the points or HEI would work for me. I guess it just comes down to preference, something for me to think about then.

[Formulajones]

No reason to be afraid of points. Not even sure why people are putting a mileage limit on them. That's ridiculous.

Both of our daily drivers are points ignition, and have been for decades. They'll get nearly 10,000 miles a year on them each, and I never have to worry about it. They've both had the same points in them for years. All I do is check the dwell once a year on them, and honestly haven't had to make a single tweak.

I use Accel points in both cars, still good quality from my experience. Even have another points car here with an old set of Accel points that I installed back in 1987 and it still runs just fine.

Funny fact. I race my bird a lot too as well as being my driver. Up until about 5 years ago I had a set of Accel points in it that were in there for 20 years. It had ran it's fastest time to date with those old points. Several people here insisted I change those points for a new set and the car would run better. I entertained them, changed to a fresh set of Accel points and condenser and changed the cap and rotor while I was at it. The car ran the same nearly down to the hundredth. To this day I haven't beat my best time with the old points.

The other daily driver I do run an MSD box with it. To me this is about the best deal going on a street car. That's been going 5 years and over 50k miles now with the same set of points and the same box. The sweet part of that deal is if the box ever did fail, I can pop the hood, swap 2 wires around at the coil and run on the points alone. Literally done in 30 seconds and back on the road. Nothing to be afraid of there either.

All said and done, there is nothing wrong with electronic ignitions either, as long as you can find good quality electronic parts. We have cars here with high energy electronic ignition stuff too, but they are weekend toys. For me, for solid reliability and really stupid simple maintenance, our daily drivers will keep the points.

[jhein]

I have a DUI. It's a nice unit. But, since I'm redoing my motor I called them this morning and now I'll need to send it to them to be recurved. They have great tech support. Super friendly and easy access. Just call and they put you straight through to tech support every time.

[Tom Vaught]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

No reason to be afraid of points. Not even sure why people are putting a mileage limit on them. That's ridiculous.

Both of our daily drivers are points ignition, and have been for decades. They'll get nearly 10,000 miles a year on them each, and I never have to worry about it. They've both had the same points in them for years. All I do is check the dwell once a year on them, and honestly haven't had to make a single tweak.

I use Accel points in both cars, still good quality from my experience. Even have another points car here with an old set of Accel points that I installed back in 1987 and it still runs just fine.

Funny fact. I race my bird a lot too as well as being my driver. Up until about 5 years ago I had a set of Accel points in it that were in there for 20 years. It had ran it's fastest time to date with those old points. Several people here insisted I change those points for a new set and the car would run better. I entertained them, changed to a fresh set of Accel points and condenser and changed the cap and rotor while I was at it. The car ran the same nearly down to the hundredth. To this day I haven't beat my best time with the old points.

The other daily driver I do run an MSD box with it. To me this is about the best deal going on a street car. That's been going 5 years and over 50k miles now with the same set of points and the same box. The sweet part of that deal is if the box ever did fail, I can pop the hood, swap 2 wires around at the coil and run on the points alone. Literally done in 30 seconds and back on the road. Nothing to be afraid of there either.

All said and done, there is nothing wrong with electronic ignitions either, as long as you can find good quality electronic parts. We have cars here with high energy electronic ignition stuff too, but they are weekend toys. For me, for solid reliability and really stupid simple maintenance, our daily drivers will keep the points.

The GM Ignition Electronics packages were sporatic in my opinion and experience.

One vehicle with HEI might run forever and a vehicle like my 78 Trans Am have HEI issues MULTIPLE TIMES, even after following the Module replacement instructions to the letter.

Same deal it seems on some of the Pertronics stuff, the MSD stuff, etc.

I am perfectly happy with what I have been using over the many years.
POINTS and Condenser.

Tom V.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by Tom Vaught

The GM Ignition Electronics packages were sporatic in my opinion and experience.

One vehicle with HEI might run forever and a vehicle like my 78 Trans Am have HEI issues MULTIPLE TIMES, even after following the Module replacement instructions to the letter.

Same deal it seems on some of the Pertronics stuff, the MSD stuff, etc.

I am perfectly happy with what I have been using over the many years.
POINTS and Condenser.

Tom V.

I agree with that. I've had some HEI's that run without problems, and others that seem to go through modules for what ever reason.
It's a sick feeling when you're in a busy intersection and that module just dies with no warning, and really puts that classic in a dangerous spot. I've never had points do that to me.

And I absolutely avoid those pertronix. I've told my story with those things on here a few times and the frustration I went through with them. Pertronix was a good company at the time and warrantied everything, but the hassle and frustration of breaking down on multiple occasions had me pull those things out and go right back to points many years ago. Never tried them since.

[MarkS57]

When I was finishing up my 400 for the Tempest, I bought a rebuilt points distributor. Not too long after I was back on the road, I got stranded. Seems the condenser that came with the rebuild shorted (Chinese I'm sure). Replaced the points & condenser with NOS Blue Streak items and no issue. If you buy one of those rebuilds, lose the points and condenser that comes with it. I've since converted to HEI using an NOS Delco module & a Delco 63A SI alternator. Been working great.

[unruhjonny]

Originally Posted by TCSGTO

Wow, lotsa hate for the points. I'll have to be the contrarian here and say if you already have a points distributor that is in good shape put a set of GOOD points in it, set it, and forget it.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by Tom Vaught

After you have been parked on the side of the road with a bad HEI Module,
...

I got my car in the 1990's, and at the time everyone was about tossing points to go to HEI;
My experience might not be the same, but it was similar - I had the magnetic pickup go bad (something you absolutely cannot change on the side of the road);
Since that experience, I have always ran points (on original points equipped vehicles).

It's my opinion that you can toss a spare set of points in your glove box, and should an absolute worst case scenario happen where you need to replace points on the side of the road you can do that - but you will never be left stranded.

Originally Posted by ZeGermanHam

... I think you can achieve a reliable ignition either way you go, but both are susceptible to poor quality parts on the market. ...

agreed, that's also why I'm all about GM parts that you recondition, and in the case of points, there's not a whole lot of room for something that can mess you up.
.
... so chack me for suggesting you K.I.S.S.;
Keep It Simple, Stupid

lol

Points do require as a rule of thumb more maintenance than HEI, but in the case of HEI, you are left susceptible to electronic equipment going bad - and unlike a purely mechanical setup, they give you no warning - they just stop working.

[Dragncar]

For a street car and "most" Pontiac race cars single point GM distributors are the best, period.
HEI, Petronix all that stuff can and will fail.
There are less than 1% of Pontiac engines need to go past 8000 RPM. Points triggered CD ignition, take your pick, MSD, Crane, Mallory are better than HEI are better than plain points.
Points triggered by a CD box do not wear out, no current draw. The MSD box does all the work. Points with CD can not fail. Since you do not need a condenser to use the points with MSD you simply leave a high quality condenser under the cap brand new, just sitting there. Just in case the MSD box fails you simply pop the hood, remove the cap, switch some wires and drive home.
What could be better ? Only a high end ignition with crank trigger is better.
I bought a sweet cast iron distributor in perfect shape for 115$ from a member. I will put some pics up when I get some time.
HEIs are ugly, huge and have parts that can fail.

[Tom Vaught]

Originally Posted by Dragncar

For a street car and "most" Pontiac race cars single point GM distributors are the best, period.
HEI, Petronix all that stuff can and will fail.
There are less than 1% of Pontiac engines need to go past 8000 RPM. Points triggered CD ignition, take your pick, MSD, Crane, Mallory are better than HEI are better than plain points.
Points triggered by a CD box do not wear out, no current draw. The MSD box does all the work. Points with CD can not fail. Since you do not need a condenser to use the points with MSD you simply leave a high quality condenser under the cap brand new, just sitting there. Just in case the MSD box fails you simply pop the hood, remove the cap, switch some wires and drive home.
What could be better ? Only a high end ignition with crank trigger is better.
I bought a sweet cast iron distributor in perfect shape for 115$ from a member. I will put some pics up when I get some time.
HEIs are ugly, huge and have parts that can fail.

X2 on all of above Post #31

Tom V.

[MUSLCAH]

I had Cliff go through my stock distributor…that matches my born with motor….and going back to points this spring with Vac advance.

[Formula jg]

X2 on Progression Ignition, you will not be disappointed in form, function and quality.

https://progressionignition.com/shop...ap-distributor

[Formulajones]

Only thing that turns me off of that right away is the need to use a smart phone or tablet.

I returned a Compushift trans controller for that very reason. It was smart phone only and no way I'm going to look at tables and tune on a little phone, I hate to even carry the darn thing with me anyway.

If it had a cable to plug the laptop in I'd be all in on it. The minute they mention it's wireless and needs a smart phone, I'm not interested.

[Cliff R]

Same HEI distributor in service now on it's 5th engine and still using the same 990 module, stock reluctor, cap, coil, etc and no issues other than taking it apart recently because the moly grease I used back in 1985 dried up and the mechanical advance was sticking just tad and not pulling all the timing out at idle speed.

Even with that said I like points units, but as Sun Tuned said it MUST be a rock-solid unit with super tight bushings or you are done before you get started. As for points still plenty of NOS Delco sets on Ebay, better grab em up because most of the over the counter points are off-shore and not worth two squirts of duck poop......IMHO.....

[dataway]

What is the proper GM part number for 1968 Pontiac points? There seems to be a variety of them.

Anyone ever consider replacing the condenser with some kind of equivalent industrial capacitor or the like?

[Tom Vaught]

I put a remote (Larger Can) condenser on a dual point distributor many years ago.
I saw no difference in either one working better vs the other.

My assumption at the time was maybe the larger condenser might give the points a longer life.
The condenser was about 1 inch in diameter. Drilled a couple of holes in the cast iron distributor
and attached the bracket to one hole and ran the wire to the points thru the second hole after I
attached a new fork connector.

Just trying to learn things.

Tom V.

[389]

I've been looking into these Vertex Z-6 CD boxes. I'm going to get one this winter and trigger it with an iron distributor with a tach connector...

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/tay-401000

[MarkS57]

I was always using Blue Streak stuff back in the day. If I still was using points, I'd buy this in a New York second:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/28453561552...0AAOSwDjZhmCAn

check out the last pic, Made in USA

Just my experience....

"HEIs are ugly, huge and have parts that can fail."

Ugly? maybe you can find yourself a purty blue NOS Blue Streak cap! I've had many GM vehicles 1975 & up and I can say I never had a catastrophic ignition failure in any of them. Also, a spare module, Philips screwdriver & maybe a 1/4" nut driver in your trunk can get you moving pretty darn fast. However, I would only go NOS on any ignition part these days.