bumbulls Posted August 5, 2017 Report Share Posted August 5, 2017 I am thinking of installing electronic ignition to my '72 UK Dec registered TR6. Looking for any advice on which is the best and the best value for money and tips on fitting. Thanks, Andy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Austin Branson Posted August 5, 2017 Report Share Posted August 5, 2017 Hello Andy, I have the Ignitor from the Distributor Doctor. This the second one, the first failed after several years. I also got a coil, HT leads, distributor cap and rotor arm from the same source. Very reliable now. Austin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pfenlon Posted August 5, 2017 Report Share Posted August 5, 2017 If its the Petronix unit, with the flame thrower coil, that Austin is using, it has a very good reputation. I fitted one into my Dual point dizzy with great results, and plan on getting another one for my TR6. Petronix UK are also very helpful, and do back up their product with sound advice. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
barkerwilliams Posted August 5, 2017 Report Share Posted August 5, 2017 Andy, There are electronic points - £40'sh. Next step is electronic distributor with selectable advance curves. Then there are electronic distributors with coils, bells and whistles. Many hundreds of ££s. It depends on your budget and what you are trying to achieve. Many will tell you the car has lasted 40 years on points so where is the problem- stick with what you've got. The original points start to wear from they day you fit them and need to be checked and adjusted now and again and a set of spares are cheap and fit in your boot and can be replaced by the roadside. Points tend not to have the instantaneous fail of electronic items. Electronic replacement points are cheap enough to keep a spare set in the boot, but like all electronics if they fail the car stops wherever you happen to be even if it is not a good spot. Electronic distributors can be very expensive so you probably won't carry a spare and although quite reliable one day will fail, perhaps many thousands of miles and years later. Whatever you eventually decide remember your original Lucas 22D distributor is now very rare, sought after and very valuable - do not dispose of it if you replace, clean lubricate and store in an airtight bag with a silica sachet. Me, I have electronic points, the car came with them fitted, with a spare set in the boot and I also carry a set of mechanical points as well - just in case. If you drive your car as a normal road car and what you have is working well I would recommend you stick with it unless you need to get rid of surplus cash. Alan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Steves_TR6 Posted August 5, 2017 Report Share Posted August 5, 2017 (edited) Hi Andy, perhaps ask yourself what you want to address/achieve ? If you want to avoid having to check and set points, then the 'points replacement' electronic ignition devices that fit inside the distribitor do this, and work reliably until one day when they stop. Perhaps you want to address the fact that the distributor is now 40 years old, probably worn and was frankly not exactly 'advanced' 40 years ago, then perhaps one of the replacement distributors, eg 123ignition, they even do one with bluetooth now! Or maybe you like to go the 'whole hog' and get rid of the distributor!, you can get mapped distributorless ignition systems but there is quite a lot of work, i've investigated but stopped short of action...... this option would allow ignition to be mapped to both engine speed and vacuum/throttle position, which i do like the sound of :-) My tr6 has lumenition optically trigered 'points replacement' , it was fitted in about 1998 and is still going strong. You pays your money and take your choice Andy! Steve Edited August 5, 2017 by SDerbyshire Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Peter Cobbold Posted August 5, 2017 Report Share Posted August 5, 2017 (edited) I'm about to upgrade my ignitition to get rid of those nasty plastic points. With a set of fibre points from DD. Peter Edited August 5, 2017 by Peter Cobbold Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AndyR100 Posted August 5, 2017 Report Share Posted August 5, 2017 'Best value' is probably Aldon/Pertronix Ignitor. Cheapest (buy a spare for the glovebox) is probably a Powerspark Best.... I'll leave this to others as I suspect you will get plenty of variety of answers! ....... Andy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DRD Posted August 5, 2017 Report Share Posted August 5, 2017 I am thinking of installing electronic ignition to my '72 UK Dec registered TR6. Looking for any advice on which is the best and the best value for money and tips on fitting. Thanks, Andy I've got the Powerspark kit which seems ok and good value. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kcsun Posted August 5, 2017 Report Share Posted August 5, 2017 +1 for Lumenition kc Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RobH Posted August 5, 2017 Report Share Posted August 5, 2017 +1 for retaining points - I had a Pertronix unit fail at a most inconvenient time. Points may go slowly out of adjustment but they don't suddenly fail, at leat not the decent ones with a fibre cam. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
peejay4A Posted August 6, 2017 Report Share Posted August 6, 2017 (edited) Points do fail suddenly albeit rarely. I had a fibre heel set fail high resistance out of nowhere. The riveting on one of the contacts had loosened. Nothing's perfect. Edited August 6, 2017 by peejay4A Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AarhusTr6 Posted August 6, 2017 Report Share Posted August 6, 2017 Andy curious on your rationale. Is it you expect better performance etc (ie full replacement inc coils).. If so, for me I also own a brand new car which is all computerised blah blah blah and I think that is why I wanted my 70s classic. So for me, I want to keep my points, fan belt etc . . I do not want to change the car and if I make another 20 years show my grandkids how cars really worked 'nabk in my day'. I struggle with the upgrade issue as a whole as a newbie but do understand maybe preplacing poor quality Leyland crap when absolutely necessary. Maybe this is more religious than technical :-) Rich Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cew Posted August 6, 2017 Report Share Posted August 6, 2017 +1 for Lumenition kc +2, My car had Lumenition on it when I bought it 10 years ago, not had an issue in 20000miles Quote Link to post Share on other sites
John L Posted August 6, 2017 Report Share Posted August 6, 2017 I have had plenty of satisfaction and fitted many to friends cars with Powerspark by http://www.simonbbc.com/ And you get a red rotorarm thrown in usually. John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wally Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 I am having trouble turning the key in my 1970 Tr6 - it takes about 10 minutes of frustrating jiggling the key to get it to fire up - and then it is perfect. I am wondering if anyone has some options for something new to install since I will be exploring fixing it this week. - I am not hung up keeping it original - just want something much easier and better - thank you for your help - Gary - Montreal Canada. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JochemsTR Posted July 21, 2019 Report Share Posted July 21, 2019 Gary, are you sure it is your ignition causing the problem? Jochem Quote Link to post Share on other sites
StuartG Posted July 21, 2019 Report Share Posted July 21, 2019 I used to have points replacement type fitted inside distributor until it failed on the off ramp of M40 on me 2 years ago ! Since replaced with original points which work fine although I have fitted the old fashioned Sparkrite electronic ignition that retains the points. I went down that route as went to Scotland last year and old tech. In middle of Scotland east to fix ! Having said all that I did fit Lumention to my previous Fiat X1/9 which ran perfectly for 8 years. Main reason for fitting to that car was that it was a bugger to get at the distributor so checking or changing points was not the piece of cake it is on a TR6 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AarhusTr6 Posted July 21, 2019 Report Share Posted July 21, 2019 (edited) I fitted a Delco 6 Electronic Distributor as a temporary measure whilst I was going to send my D22 lucas of to the Dist Doctor. Thing is, its running so well I am unsure on what gains I can get by sending off my old 22D...! Rich Edited July 21, 2019 by AarhusTr6 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andy Moltu Posted July 21, 2019 Report Share Posted July 21, 2019 You could get a cheap electronic ignition kit and keep a spare in the boot. The electronic equivalent of a spare set of points. Are the more expensive ones more reliable? Or are they the same with a larger profit margin? Had a Piranha on the 6 for over 25 years, a Luminition on the Stag for over 10 and a cheapo Powerspark from ebay for a year. As a cynic I would argue how do you know if the electronics are high quality in any of them? Even with a worn distributor you will get less timing scatter from electronic ignition. The other thing to consider is that the quality of condensers that seem to be in circulation is shocking. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DRD Posted July 22, 2019 Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 16 hours ago, AarhusTr6 said: I fitted a Delco 6 Electronic Distributor as a temporary measure whilst I was going to send my D22 lucas of to the Dist Doctor. Thing is, its running so well I am unsure on what gains I can get by sending off my old 22D...! Rich I was thinking of doing the same thing, I'd be interested to hear if you think the refurbed 22D is any better. Cheers Darren Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stuart Posted July 22, 2019 Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 20 minutes ago, DRD said: I was thinking of doing the same thing, I'd be interested to hear if you think the refurbed 22D is any better. Cheers Darren I always fit DD rebuilt Dizzys to all of my customers cars, With regards to the cheapo electronic ignition kits/distributors talk to Martin (DD) about them and he will tell you most have more scatter than a worn standard dizzy but what do you expect for £3. Stuart. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tom Boyd Posted July 22, 2019 Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 6 hours ago, stuart said: I always fit DD rebuilt Dizzys to all of my customers cars, With regards to the cheapo electronic ignition kits/distributors talk to Martin (DD) about them and he will tell you most have more scatter than a worn standard dizzy but what do you expect for £3. Stuart. Couldn't agree more with Stuart, all of our cars leave with DD distributors. Even my 2.5pi has one fitted, I took off a 100 mile old 123 dizzy and fitted Martins, feels sharper & can change the points etc on roadside if needed Tom Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DRD Posted July 22, 2019 Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 1 hour ago, Tom Boyd said: Couldn't agree more with Stuart, all of our cars leave with DD distributors. Even my 2.5pi has one fitted, I took off a 100 mile old 123 dizzy and fitted Martins, feels sharper & can change the points etc on roadside if needed Tom Well I'm going to try both on the rolling road and it will be interesting to see the results. Cheers Darren Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andy Moltu Posted July 22, 2019 Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 The other thing with these electronic dizzy's are the advance curves. How do you know which, if any, are right? There may be 10 or more curves to choose from but will any replicate what the original dis when in good nick? it gets even more complicated wit a modified engine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TriumphV8 Posted July 24, 2019 Report Share Posted July 24, 2019 The ignition has been a weak point of engines all the time. But we can be happy that all the theoretically not perfect solutions to bring a spark to the correct cylinder ended with a close to perfect result referring to power and misfire. Todays solution would be a crank triggered digitally prepared pulse of defined timing and dwell time guided to a single coil for every cylinder to perform a powefull spark at any rev and any load situation. It is up to anybodys individual taste how much a Triumph owner wants to go that way away from points. It is not needed for normal running of engine. If there is a problem it can be solved with a repair of the original. Replacing the points with an electronic item is a good idea but everybody should be aware that electronic parts do not like heat. So this and all the next steps like 123 should be seen a bit critically. I would carry a conventional distributor with me. My personal view is on the dwell time because I have a high reving TR6 that needs a high spark rate at the limit of the ignition system fitted. High tension coils need a time to build up a magnetic field to perform a powerfull spark. That is called the dwell time and is from 2-10 milliseconds depending on the coil. Both points and cheap electronics perform a dwell angle turning from the crank what becomes smaller when crank rotates faster. That is not good and should be superseeded by a constant dwell time meeting the requirements of the coil. It avoids overheating of coil at low revs and poor spark at high revs. Single coils avoid distributor and all the parts that can fail and as the only deliver 1/3 of the former spark rate they have no problems to deliver at high revs. So it is more a personal taste how far to go with swap and not a single way that only will be the best. Many swaps reported to give a new engine are simply related to a former rotten dizzy! I have a full digital crank triggered ignition with a MSD6 multiple spark discharge. I run this for 20 years at the V8 and 8 years on the 6 cylinder. Electronics is far away from heat in the glove box and spare was never needed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.