Mallory Breakerless Ignition
 

I was just about to start a thread regards fuel problems I am having but this ignition issue pushed in. I am running a Mallory 3 bolt Breakerless distributor ( near new ) which uses a 609 module the problem being every so often the output goes AWOL for 1/2 a day or so ( no negative signal to the coil which is new ) . I don`t think it is heat related as the distributor not hot to touch when it occurs . ( no , no loose wires faulty connections , crappy earths or such ,I have been right over this )

I suppose I am asking if any one has had problems with this distributor. This is my second 609 module I have fitted to it

I kinda like the look of the Mallory unit but as time goes by I am starting to look at retro fitting dual points and a condenser to it.

Re: Mallory Breakerless Ignition
 

Mallory quality? Had a problem with their condensers. They have been bought and sold so many times over the years - read their history:
https://www.holley.com/brands/mallory/

I was with Dana when they purchased Echlin (lead to their bankruptcy) which purchased Mallory from WR Grace's Mr Gasket Division. WR Grace was a conglomerate and could care less about distributors. Mr Gasket was a name or 'brand'. The Carson City plant was a huge mess, QC of the housings was non existent, with issues of the rotor shaft centerline not centered in the distributor housing.
Lack of maintenance on plant equipment etc. I was in that plant several times when Dana took it over, they did correct problems until, Dana went under, and started selling divisions to bring in cash to save what was left of the company.

Holly owns them now, will this improve the 'brand'?

Re: Mallory Breakerless Ignition
 

I think you have answered your own question. If it makes any difference, you have my permission to replace it.;)

Re: Mallory Breakerless Ignition
 

I converted mine to use a gm hei module and a different external hei coil about 4-5 yrs ago . Still going strong . I can’t remember how I did it but I do have a drawing somewhere in my files

Re: Mallory Breakerless Ignition
 

I can tell you, there is nothing wrong with points , both my old rockets (33 and 34)have the stock ford setup, they do thousands of miles no drama, still 6v
Lawrie

Re: Mallory Breakerless Ignition
 

Hey, how about that , fired up first thing this morning ( looks like it just needs a good rest overnight ) .

Regards retro fitting with points and condenser I meant stripping out the electronic crap from the distributor and mounting the points plate and 8 lobe shaft into the Mallory ( all this is just a thought bubble at the moment I haven`t delved too far into the engineering required yet )

Re: Mallory Breakerless Ignition
 

Very good system. As long as the pickup coil produces an ac voltage with two wires it'll trigger a GM module attached to a heat sink hidden somewhere. Your existing coil will work fine triggered by the module.

My flathead is on points, but my other stuff is like Ggmac says.

Re: Mallory Breakerless Ignition
 

It's the same guts from Mallory's old 540 super duty kit.....
The 540 had all the electronic parts in a separate box.
Your kit has all that stuff under the distributor cap, although I believe your intermittent running is due to part(s) just going "south" and not necessarily
heat related.

I have a Mallory 540 on my '48 truck. Runs fine. No issues for 10 years.
I eventually pressed an old Hays reluctor onto the load-o-matic's points
cam to make the signal more crisp for the electronics to read.

Re: Mallory Breakerless Ignition
 

I have the same ignition in my car. The car came with it installed. I have owned the car for 8 years. It used to be very hard to start but I changed out my coil to a Mallory 29219 Coil recommended by the late Jim Linder (Bubba). I did install an MSD 8214 resistor that was recommended to be used with that coil, but I found that the car was still hard to start with it. So I tried putting a jumper wire around it and the car ran dramatically better. Mallory said you didn't need the resistor for a performance situation but recommended it for a street application. I asked Jim Linder if I needed the resistor to protect the Mallory Breakerless Ignition, and he said if it works better, run without it. So that's what I have been doing since 2021. I have a jumper wire permanently installed around the resistor, which I left in place. My car stalled out last year at a busy intersection and I couldn't get it restarted. Had to have help pushing it off the road. When I got to looking at it I found the jumper wire had come loose. Once I reconnected the jumper wire, the car started right up. It seems the 29219 coil doesn't have a strong enough spark if you have the 8214 resistor in place with the Mallory Breakerless Ignition. Anyway, my experience with this ignition works OK without the recommended resistor with the 29219 Coil.

Re: Mallory Breakerless Ignition
 

That makes interesting reading Jim, as a stand engine it is not going to get a lot of hours, with the distributor on a test bedI can get a healthy looking spark to jump abpout 5/8", back on the engine by the time it gets to the spark plug I can hardly see it. I have a really rich idle with all 4 mixture screws nearly seated so I am trying to eliminate any potential ignition problems first.

Might try ditching resistor for awhile see what happens

Re: Mallory Breakerless Ignition
 

Enclosed is a curve I got from Mallory on Current Vs Ohms. The resistor is to keep the amperage down to the 5-6 amp range. I must be at 8.5 amps or so with the resistor bypassed, but it seems to work.