Recommendation for solid state ignition

Good friend has a pair of 470's in front of alpha drives. He's tired of points problems and is interested in installing a solid state replacement system. I know that there is some controversy about Petronix systems and the reluctor based systems are favored.
Recommendations, experiences appreciated

TIA

what point problems. They glaze over the off season and need cleaning, install a new set and your good to go

There is nothing wrong with the Pertronix......just make sure you get the coil set up correctly.

If using the same coil get the appropriate pertronix parts. If replacing the coil make sure you have the correct one for the 470 stock ignition which uses a external resistor. If you choose to eliminate the external resistor in the original wire harness then get a internal resistor coil.

pettronix withthe proper coil, is a great setup, those who use it know

Bob, to my knowledge, the only affordable electronic ignition conversion for the Merc 470 ignition distributor would be the Pertronix kit.
This conversion uses Hall Effect. Hall Effect is great intrinsically, and is widely used in the auto world for a multitude of applications.
However, the way that this company does it poses some issues, IMO.

One issue is the smalll diameter of the magnet ring or wheel. The triggering magnets are embedded within the small diameter platic ring. Pertronix themselves admit to a possible error of up to 1.5 degrees (someone posted this a year or so ago). To my knowledge, they have not elaborated as to this error being at the triggering wheel, or at the crankshaft.
If a 1.5 degree error occurs at the wheel, this would equate to a 3 degree error at the crankshaft.

Perhaps if the ring diameter was larger, this error may be less... but I have no data that would support this.

Other possible issues:

• the kit does ZERO to correct any distributor wear, shaft wobble or malfunction of the advancing mechanism.
• a sloppy ring/wheel fit onto the points cam.
• alignment of the ring/wheel to the sensor unit.

On the other side of the coin.... many people love the Pertronix kits, and they swear by them.


The VR system "reluctor" or "reluctor wheel" is machined with precision accuracy. I do not see any errors reported with the reluctor wheels. Also, the reluctors hold their magnetic value for years and years.
But I'm not aware of any VR ignition or VR conversion kit for this engine.


If that was my boat (given my dislike of the P kits), I'd probably stay with the kettering system (contact points). I'd check for any wear, I'd make certain that the progressive advance and total advance were correct as per OEM, and I'd keep the dwell adjusted correctly (not gap).

If he's seeing premature contact point failure, he may want to look at the ignition coil and/or coil circuit.
Suggest to him that he set/adjust for the correct "Dwell Angle", and not set point gap.
Setting "gap" is an estimate ONLY of correct dwell angle.



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