I don't think you need to change coils. As I recall, the negative terminal of the coil primary on your car is external to the coil. As I recall from my old Pertronix installation on my 142, the black wire on the module goes to the coil negative primary - effectively where the points were connected. The red wire needs +12 v power that is switched on in the run position. On the non armoured Volvos, you get this off the coil primary winding plus terminal. The plus terminal is not accessible on your coil; but, it should be possible to pick up +12 v someplace else that is switched on in the run position. A perusal of the wiring diagram should show some candidates; but, I am sure that somebody has dealt with this. Doesn't IPD sell a kit for installing on 1800 / Amazons with the armoured coil primary?

As an observation, if your objective is just to eliminate the points the Pertronix will do that. The Pertronix will not improve performance. The Pertronix uses a switching transistor arrangement that has a Vsat close to 2 volts. This reduces the voltage available for driving the current in the coil primary reducing the peak available spark energy. Under most operating conditions the reduction does not present a significant issue. It can present a problem during starting if your electrical system is at all tired and under high engine load conditions if the rest of your ignition system is not up to snuff. The Pertronix also does nothing to deal with the inevitable wear in the advance mechanism and the distributor shaft and the flakey performance that results.

Personally I would skip the Pertronix and spend the money on rebuilding / rebushing your distributor, new points, cap and condenser and purchasing some NGK Iridium spark plugs. If you check IPD, I am sure that they will have the replacement condenser and distributor parts for your car.

I went totally electronic ditching my Pertronix, my coil and my distributor and using the ECU to control four COPs I salvaged from a 20xx ish Toyota Corolla. No moving parts, a hot spark and reliable starting.

 

Personally I would skip the Pertronix and spend the money on rebuilding / rebushing your distributor, new points, cap and condenser and purchasing some NGK Iridium spark plugs. If you check IPD, I am sure that they will have the replacement condenser and distributor parts for your car.

What is the correct part number for Iridium plugs? My current plug is a NGK 7331 (also called NGK BP6HS)?

 

Thank you for the input. I have decided to go the points/condenser route that you recommend first. I finally found the condenser - at IPD. I ordered 2 sets of points and condensers. They were surprised that they had the condenser. They also do not have rebuild kits for my distributor - even though it is the one that they show in the picture as an example (hehe).

I am still overly worried about the future because IPD didn't sound like they were going to be carrying the condenser anymore, I cannot find other sources for it, and I see no rebuild kits anywhere for my distributor.

 

I am still overly worried about the future because IPD didn't sound like they were going to be carrying the condenser anymore, I cannot find other sources for it, and I see no rebuild kits anywhere for my distributor.

Try GCP for the distributor rebuild kit.

http://www.gcp.se/en/

I got the rebuild kit for my B20 from them (which I never installed because I ended up getting rid of the distributor). You may have to search a bit since I can't remember whether the rebuild kit was listed with the distributor parts. Going through the GCP catalog can be painfully slow because it is literally structured upon the Volvo parts book. There are .pdf versions of the 1800 parts manual on the web. If you can find one you are better off to search through the parts book on your own to find the part number for the rebuild kit and then do a search on the part number on the GCP site.

In addition to GCP, IROLL motors, Hi Performance Auto, VP Auto, CVI and Scandcar would be good places to try for the condenser. CVI lists one for the B18 A/B/D.

http://www.cvi-automotive.se/en/articles/2.14566.40575/condenser-b18-b18abd

In a pinch, if you can find a condenser from another car that fits, it should work just fine. Condensers have ridiculously large manufacturing tolerances, typically +/- 20%. The customization is in the size, mounting bracket and the wiring lug. Voltage withstand of ignition system condensers will all be similar. Just make sure that it is not an ignition noise suppression condenser which sometimes look similar; but, have a much lower voltage rating.

A bigger problem than the points and condenser may be the vacuum advance servo (depending on which B18 you have). Those may be out of production for the B18 which could create a problem . Again, in a pinch you can run with just mechanical advance with some slight drop in performance. However, at that point you might want to investigate the move to the 123 electronic distributor.

https://www.123ignitionshop.com/gb/26-volvo

The Euro based Volvo parts specialists used to offer rebuilt Bosch distributors on an exchange basis. They seemed to have stopped doing that and most of them seem to be selling the 123 instead of rebuilt distributors.

If your distributor shaft bushings have worn to the point that the ignition timing is starting to get flakey, I would seriously think about the 123 versus getting a rebuild kit and the hassle of re-bushing the distributor. If a timing light says that your ignition timing appears to be solid, then new points / condenser / cap is the way to go.