I have a 69 type I and was thinking of putting in a electronic ignition.
I need to know what is a good system for the money, and which systems to avoid.

Presently I am looking at a Pertronix system for about $60, a Bosch for about $99, and a Jacobs for about $234. I have know idea what would best suit my purposes, the car will be a daily driver for my wife, she does not like the idea of readjusting the points every so often and the car some time stalls after coming down from high rpm.

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I bought the Compufire points replacement module, like the Pertronix igniter, and ran it several thousand miles without noticing a difference in my 78 bus. One morning after camping, on my way home from buses by the arch 98, my bus would not start. No spark. 
The module gave up the ghost in Lincoln, IL. I put my old distributor, with points already installed, back in the bus and it fired right up. When I got home I sent the module back to Engine Electronics, Inc. They tested it and sure enough its life was over. They sent me a new one, which now sits on a shelf still in its box, as I have lost faith. I understand points, and I can replace them easily or file them down enough to get me to a new set.

Last year I bought a Jacobs Electronics Omni Torquer setup and wires. I put it in the same 78 bus. I have retained the points system for reasons above. My mileage has increased slightly, but the power and acceleration of the bus has increased dramatically. It has no problems passing on the freeway or accelerating uphill. It starts a bit more quickly than before and idles more smoothly. It runs cooler than before the Jacobs, too. It was expensive, but the bus runs better and I am making my money back bit by bit in gas mileage.

If your goal is to be rid of points, I've heard surmountable problems with both Pertronix and Compufire, so I would guess neither is better than the other. If your goal is to improve the performance of your bus over the long term, I would go with a Jacobs coil and wires. 

Each driver/motor combination is unique. Individual results may vary.

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If you look in the desert somewhere in New Mexico, you will find a Pertronix ignition laying in the dirt! You can have it FREE!!!!
I threw it as far as I could when it died at 11pm on a Tuesday on my way home from L.A. in Woody's 61 D.D. panel! I replaced it with a dist. (with contact points in it) that I had along as a spare and went home without any more trouble!
Billy has had experience with the Jacobs ignition with no problems....YET!
I'll stick with the tried and proven points system!
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You guys are scaring me! I have the Pertronics in my 62 bug and have had no problems, should I worry? Guess I need to pack the old points and condenser in the glove box just to be safe. 10,000 miles with no problems yet.

I know where there is a brand new 009 with electronic ignition in it.
I threw it out into the desert at 2 am on the way home from California with Woody's '61 panel.
I replaced it with a stock 009 and as far as I know, Woody is still driving it with that distributor.
So, as you can see, I don't have any love for electronic ignition.
A well maintained breaker ignition is virtually trouble free if it is set
up correctly. Our bus was set up in 2000 with points, 50,000 trouble free miles and I have not touched it since. Other than a check of the gap twice a year.
But, I do carry a complete distributor in my kit that is ready to drop in
at any time, as well as a spare coil, condenser, and points.
My point is, if you're having trouble with burning points, fix the problem....
Bad condenser, a weak coil, or wrong gap!
Just my opinion!
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The good:  No gap to set.

The Bad: No warning before failure, can be fried by leaving power to the unit without running the engine (if the magnet is in just the right spot), non-swappable between distributors (often only 1 unit is sold, and it may not fit all dizzies)

The Ugly: $50-60 cost vs. $5-10 for a points set (including shipping, or gas to the store).  With a 50% reported failure, by either the wrong unit being sent, being installed wrong or whatever, combined with no noticeable improvement in performance over correctly installed points, I don't see the value.  With a $75 cost for the pertronics (50% failure averaged) it would have to last 50 years in my cars before I'd see any cost savings.

Been there, done that, gone back to points.
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I always thought a distributor-less ignition system would be great if you could find one that worked and wouldn't cost a fortune. Of course you'd have to use an electric fuel pump if you want to get rid of the distributor or use some kind of neat block off that kept the inner shaft in place.

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This page was last updated 02/03/2007