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electronic ignigtion


Guest newtr6

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hi

thanx for help on last post, any recomendations on electric ignigtions,and do i need power booster and coil ..and any downloads ??

thanks arthur

 

My vote would be Pertronix Ignitor aka 'Aldon' - if you search the forum you'll find a lot of previous stuff on this topic.

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I fitted a Pertronix Ignitor a number of years ago.I am very happy with it.I have a CP engine modified for hill climbing that now starts like a diesel.I found the installation instructions regarding suitable coils a bit daunting,but in the end I fitted the Ignitor,set the air gap to 30 thou then started and retimed the engine.The timing was a bit out after the change.I am very wary about leaving the ignition on with the engine not running as the instructions warn this may damage the coil and Ignitor.Still this is not much different to frying the points when you leave a conventional ignition switched on.

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The protrusion inside my first quality rotor sheared off it would seem because it sat around 1mm higher on the cam with the ignitor sleeve mounted. I got a confirmation to modify it from somebody who should know, I quote:

 

"It is always good practice to remove a thickness of material from the basal circuimference of the rotor arm commensurate with the thickness of any electronic ignition reluctor.

 

Amazingly they don't refer to it in any of the kit fitting instructions.

 

I always do it when fitting kits here , & add a spot of Loctite for good measure."

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  • 3 months later...
I fitted a Pertronix Ignitor a number of years ago.I am very happy with it.I have a CP engine modified for hill climbing that now starts like a diesel.I found the installation instructions regarding suitable coils a bit daunting,but in the end I fitted the Ignitor,set the air gap to 30 thou then started and retimed the engine.The timing was a bit out after the change.I am very wary about leaving the ignition on with the engine not running as the instructions warn this may damage the coil and Ignitor.Still this is not much different to frying the points when you leave a conventional ignition switched on.

That's very good advice.

If you choose to replace the coil as well, there are some things to consider. If you have a ballasted ignition and do not choose to bypass the ballast resistor wire you will need a 1.5 or 1.6 ohm coil.

Then you will also have a choice of voltage potential. Standard coils for a ballasted system or not can produce 20k volts, which is sufficient for most of us, especially with the Pertronix ignition. Then there are the coils capable of producing twice that voltage.

However, unless you increase the spark plug gap or increase the dwell time if you have points, you will not be using the coil's full potential. Here's an interesting article about the subject, and within, the relationship between spark plug gap and coil voltage potential.

http://www.vtr.org/maintain/ballast.shtml

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That's very good advice.

If you choose to replace the coil as well, there are some things to consider. If you have a ballasted ignition and do not choose to bypass the ballast resistor wire you will need a 1.5 or 1.6 ohm coil.

Then you will also have a choice of voltage potential. Standard coils for a ballasted system or not can produce 20k volts, which is sufficient for most of us, especially with the Pertronix ignition. Then there are the coils capable of producing twice that voltage.

However, unless you increase the spark plug gap or increase the dwell time if you have points, you will not be using the coil's full potential. Here's an interesting article about the subject, and within, the relationship between spark plug gap and coil voltage potential.

http://www.vtr.org/maintain/ballast.shtml

 

That is a good article. In his excellent book Dan suggests 35 thou for the plug gaps when used with the Lucas sports coil. I set mine at that level but have not experimented to know if that is optimal. I would be interested to hear what others have their plug gaps set to.

 

Stan

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Stan, I have a Pertronix Ignitor instead of points along with a Standard coil and have my plugs at .032.

I had them at .035 for a few months and although I had no problem with a miss, I decided not to push it and closed the gaps to .032.

I bet with a Sport Coil, I could have gone .035 with confidence.

The one thing that I was warned about was that with the increased voltage that went along with a wider plug gap, it would be a little harder on the rotor and cap.

I think that had some influence on my decision to gap at .032.

I'm getting spark plug color reading on my Champion RN12YC plugs that indicate good combustion even though my engine has 105k miles with a bit of blowback,.. I'm pretty sure.

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Stan, I have a Pertronix Ignitor instead of points along with a Standard coil and have my plugs at .032.

I had them at .035 for a few months and although I had no problem with a miss, I decided not to push it and closed the gaps to .032.

I bet with a Sport Coil, I could have gone .035 with confidence.

The one thing that I was warned about was that with the increased voltage that went along with a wider plug gap, it would be a little harder on the rotor and cap.

I think that had some influence on my decision to gap at .032.

I'm getting spark plug color reading on my Champion RN12YC plugs that indicate good combustion even though my engine has 105k miles with a bit of blowback,.. I'm pretty sure.

 

Cool. I'll see how it goes and be prepared to back off the plug gap if needed. I'm currently experimenting with the 123ignition distributor following the recent discussion here which has done everything that people have claimed regarding rock solid timing and great flexibility in timing curve selection. The 123 unit uses a Bosch cap and rotor arm and the guys at 123 suggest either a stock or "high energy" coil so it should be up to the task. I think the plugs are NGK BP6ES.

 

Stan

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