Electronic ignition/capacitive discharge...?

I think I've read all there is to read about Pertronix, Crane, Mallory electronic ignitions, and MSD and other CDS's.

First the quick background, then the question:

I have NO probs with my IAY 4401 points distrib, ie, my hot and cold starts are fine, I can idle at 650, SMOOTHY all day, top-end doesn't seem to be lacking (after adding new exhaust), bottom-end is great. Plugs are textbook-tan. No erettic firing, that I can quantify.
My goal is to simply get all I can out of the stock F134 (Carter YF 951 works GREAT).

All I'm interested in, is can EI and/or CD get me 5-10% more power across-the-board?

Or, if anyone has any other input, I'd appreciate hearing it as well.

TIA

 

I just installed Pertronix in my F-head, along with a partial rebuild of the Solex carb (changed some of the metered pieces) and new plug wires. The carb is still a little out of adjustment, but I can tell you my previous starting problems have vanished and it has more power and no acceleration stumble that it had before. Without a reasonable way to set the dwell on points and thereby limited to a feeler gauge, this so far seems well worth the money. I don't have a valid method to quantify your 5-10 percent goal, but I'm happy with what I did.

If I could find a relatively easy FI conversion, I'd do it, too.

 

Thanks for your reply and experience!

I know any % increase is hard to put your finger on.

Here's my example: I could pull a 5+% highway grade with my foot to the floor at 4K rpm ... but it would lug down to 3K about half-way up. I replaced the old stock exhaust with 2" pipe and a generic "turbo" muffler. Now it will pull thru at 3.5K. I am pretty happy with that. Additionally, I notice noticablly more elasticity in the motor in all "working" conditions ... but that is hard to quantify.

I have no starting probs and definately no hesitation in any condition at any rpm.

I set my points with a dwell meter, which produces a much larger gap than the prescribed 0.020" and I run 8+° initial advance ... life is good, and maybe this is as good as it gets ... which is just fine, if that's the way it is

 

The only way I know to set the dwell is when there is an access hole in the side of the distributer so you can adjust the dwell while it's running. But I'm an old Chevy guy, which I know limits my experience. My '59 CJ calls for 5 degrees timing, btw.

 

Yep, GM made it easy but, it's almost as easy adjusting using a remote starter button ... you just can't do it with the motor actually running. I've never found much dwell variation from that set at starter speed than that set/checked at idle speed. really very quick and easy.
My '53 calls for 5° too ... 8+ makes for a noticable improvement.

 

Well, I can’t speak for your F-head but knowing the way a CDI works, I would think it would give you a noticeable improvement in power above about 3K RPM’s. A points ignition just flat can’t match the available spark energy a CDI creates in the mid to upper RPM’s.
From idle up to mid RPM’s, you might not notice much difference though.

 

That's helpful, thanks.