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Just Can't Stay Away 1972 142S

Missed you at the laguna lake show

I thought that was your 144 in the photos I saw. It looked like an awesome time and it would have been great to meet but we are swamped with last minute wedding planning. 5 days to go!

Are you going to the SLO rolling show in October?
 


Buttercup had quite the weekend. From picking my mom and sister up from the airport, transporting Nora and I to our reception and tolerating my Dad driving it back from the club she handled it all.
 
In order to thank Buttercup for a great weekend of work, I ordered something I'd been considering for a while. I've read a lot of threads about Pertronix vs Crane vs Points but decided to give the Pertronix 1847V a try. It arrived from Ebay in 1 day for a grand total of like $90. I installed it last night but needed to wait to finish the job until I could buy a few wire connectors. It dropped right into the stock distributor and the car fired right up instead of its usual "I've been sitting for a week" protests.

The car is still blocked into the garage by Nora's car so I won't have any driving impressions until later tonight or tomorrow. The cold idle seems to be worlds improved.

Before you stock points lovers jump all over me, I am sure I probably could have had a very similar result with a points and condenser. When I first tuned the car up I had problems setting the points so even though these were new they lived a rough life. IPD didn't stock the condensers so it was a lot easier to maintain the pertronix vs scouring ebay for replacement stock parts. I'll make sure to update this thread as I have more drive time with this setup.
 
ive been running pertronix for years on many cars without issues.

****ty part is the pertronix has plenty of wire length but mine did not go far enough to reach the coil. i relocated the coil on the firewall and now there is plenty of room.

i did not like the idea of messing with the pertronix wires.


In order to thank Buttercup for a great weekend of work, I ordered something I'd been considering for a while. I've read a lot of threads about Pertronix vs Crane vs Points but decided to give the Pertronix 1847V a try. It arrived from Ebay in 1 day for a grand total of like $90. I installed it last night but needed to wait to finish the job until I could buy a few wire connectors. It dropped right into the stock distributor and the car fired right up instead of its usual "I've been sitting for a week" protests.

The car is still blocked into the garage by Nora's car so I won't have any driving impressions until later tonight or tomorrow. The cold idle seems to be worlds improved.

Before you stock points lovers jump all over me, I am sure I probably could have had a very similar result with a points and condenser. When I first tuned the car up I had problems setting the points so even though these were new they lived a rough life. IPD didn't stock the condensers so it was a lot easier to maintain the pertronix vs scouring ebay for replacement stock parts. I'll make sure to update this thread as I have more drive time with this setup.
 
yeah i am. i have more pics of that show if you wanna see anything specific

I thought that was your 144 in the photos I saw. It looked like an awesome time and it would have been great to meet but we are swamped with last minute wedding planning. 5 days to go!

Are you going to the SLO rolling show in October?
 
ive been running pertronix for years on many cars without issues.

****ty part is the pertronix has plenty of wire length but mine did not go far enough to reach the coil. i relocated the coil on the firewall and now there is plenty of room.

i did not like the idea of messing with the pertronix wires.

I had to lengthen the positive wire a few inches which didn't feel great but I'll take it.
 
I had to lengthen the positive wire a few inches which didn't feel great but I'll take it.

Make damn sure it's a good connection. I thought mine was good, and I heat shrink wrapped it and everything, but it vibrated lose and left me on the side of the road for an hour trying to diagnose.
 
Make damn sure it's a good connection. I thought mine was good, and I heat shrink wrapped it and everything, but it vibrated lose and left me on the side of the road for an hour trying to diagnose.

The connections aren't that solid so I just ordered a new crimping tool to make sure they are.

I took the car on a 160 mile round trip journey up to Pismo Beach to meet up with a few other Volvos. The P1800 was running megasquirt and the white 122 had a really nice B20F with mikunis in it. Car did really well in spite of the 90 degree weather.

 
After seeing photos of Pat's 144 with blue plates I went out to the garage and held up my Grandma's old vanity plates. Anyone know if there is a way to resurrect a license plate with DMV. My dad has the other one so I could easily get it back and put it on the car. I think they would look great on the car and they have more sentimental value to me than the current reproduction black plates would.

 
After seeing photos of Pat's 144 with blue plates I went out to the garage and held up my Grandma's old vanity plates. Anyone know if there is a way to resurrect a license plate with DMV. My dad has the other one so I could easily get it back and put it on the car. I think they would look great on the car and they have more sentimental value to me than the current reproduction black plates would.


THE BLUE PLATES LOOK SO GOOD!!!

The only way you can get vintage blue plates onto your car is if you have proof (old registration) that those plates were once registered to that specific car once upon a time. But your plates weren't, so you can't get those plates registered to that car through the YOM (year of manufacturer) program. (that program only covers up to the black plate years anyway, blue plates are out.)

BUT, there is a way to do it.

Order new white vanity plates with the same ROZ K letters. Once it's all registered and approved, put your registration stickers on the blue plates and use them instead. Nobody will know the difference, as the police don't get a notice that your car should have white, blue, black, or any other plates when they pull you over.

While you're at it, consider ordering the vanity plates in the new black and yellow style. Then simply paint the black part blue, and run those instead. So that your original blue plates stay preserved and safe.
 
You can check at the DMV's website to see if the plate is available online. ROZ K is not available, but that could mean it's still reserved for your Grandma, and hasn't been released for reissue. Since you have both plates, I don't think it'll be a problem getting them transferred over to your car.
 
THE BLUE PLATES LOOK SO GOOD!!!

The only way you can get vintage blue plates onto your car is if you have proof (old registration) that those plates were once registered to that specific car once upon a time. But your plates weren't, so you can't get those plates registered to that car through the YOM (year of manufacturer) program. (that program only covers up to the black plate years anyway, blue plates are out.)

BUT, there is a way to do it.

Order new white vanity plates with the same ROZ K letters. Once it's all registered and approved, put your registration stickers on the blue plates and use them instead. Nobody will know the difference, as the police don't get a notice that your car should have white, blue, black, or any other plates when they pull you over.

While you're at it, consider ordering the vanity plates in the new black and yellow style. Then simply paint the black part blue, and run those instead. So that your original blue plates stay preserved and safe.

You can check at the DMV's website to see if the plate is available online. ROZ K is not available, but that could mean it's still reserved for your Grandma, and hasn't been released for reissue. Since you have both plates, I don't think it'll be a problem getting them transferred over to your car.


Thanks for your advice guys. I am going to AAA this week to see what they say. One way or another I think I'll be able to work it out and get them on the 142.
 
BUT, there is a way to do it.

Order new white vanity plates with the same ROZ K letters. Once it's all registered and approved, put your registration stickers on the blue plates and use them instead. Nobody will know the difference, as the police don't get a notice that your car should have white, blue, black, or any other plates when they pull you over.

I did this, exactly, with the plates on my '81 242. Didn't know anyone else had thought of that loophole!

It was a CA car originally but had moved to Colorado in the 90s and lost its original blue (non-vanity) plates. I bought a set of vanity plates on ebay after confirming the sequence was available on the DMV website. Once I received the new plates with the same sequence, I put them up on a shelf, stuck the tags on the blue plates, and bolted them to the car. They are genuine CA-issued plates with the correct sequence registered to the car, and I can't find any legislation that says that's not legal.
 
Thanks for your advice guys. I am going to AAA this week to see what they say. One way or another I think I'll be able to work it out and get them on the 142.

AAA wont be any help with these kinds of weird issues. They can't really do anything outside of the normal car registration, transfers, back fees, etc. Believe me, I've brought all kinds of weird issues to them, and they will send you away if it's strange. Especially if it involves a vintage car.

If your grandmother owned that plate sequence, then you should be able to cancel the hold on it and then later get it re-assigned. Just call the DMV, wait on hold for an hour until you get someone, and tell them you want to cancel the hold on that sequence. If you get to the right person, then will simply look it up, see that it hadn't been used in a long time, and delete the hold.

After that, you can look it up on the DMV website and reserve it.
 
I did this, exactly, with the plates on my '81 242. Didn't know anyone else had thought of that loophole!

It was a CA car originally but had moved to Colorado in the 90s and lost its original blue (non-vanity) plates. I bought a set of vanity plates on ebay after confirming the sequence was available on the DMV website. Once I received the new plates with the same sequence, I put them up on a shelf, stuck the tags on the blue plates, and bolted them to the car. They are genuine CA-issued plates with the correct sequence registered to the car, and I can't find any legislation that says that's not legal.

LOL, I've thought of it too, but I've only gone as far as painting an old set of white plates black and yellow. I hadn't bought plates like you did, but that's brilliant!

That's another option for the OP. If you hit too many roadblocks trying to re-register your grandmother's plates, you can simply take your white plates (since you have early plates, they have the California script stamped into them rather than printed) and paint them blue and yellow. Nobody will know the difference, except for hardcore license plate collectors. and you'll get the look you want. It just takes a steady hand to paint the yellow letters. I recommend using thick paint and a sponge brush, and painting several coats.
 
still havent got the other Roz K plate back from my Dad so that is still on hold.

I swapped in the Pertronix right before my drive up to Pismo last month. The car seemed to run much stronger. I decided to adjust the carb when I fueled up because it was idling high after the long run up the freeway. After I adjusted the carb the car did not seem to run as well the rest of the trip. On the way back it was close to 100F out and the car didn't want to go over 110KPH. Since I've been back home I have played around with the carb some more. Tonight I took it out and it ran as well as it ever has. Here are some photos:

Rolling out of the garage

I love these gauges

Made it to the ocean
 
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