Electronic distributor

[lesrollins]

There seems to be a lot of different opinions points v electronic. I only asked about the ease of changing the distributor as I thought that electronic would be a lot less hassle. As much as I have upgraded from an 803 engine to a 1098 to bring things slightly forward with a modern pace. I am not a conasour ( excuse the spelling ) but I just want to enjoy the moggy without to many breakdowns.

[MarkyB]

It seems to me that these things have improved a lot over the years.
Back in the day I had an electronic ignition system called something like Sparkrite, big cool looking aluminium box with a light and a switch to turn it back to conventional ignition.
That failed in pretty short order but still looked a bit cool.

Like most things electronics have moved on.

[David Sharp]

Ignore the Luddites! I have enjoyed 1000's of miles driving various pre 1970 cars and motocycles ALL converted to electronic ignition and never had a problem with any of the units.Each to their own,but on acquiring a Classic one of the first essential tasks for me is to "bin"the points asap..Also I have many bad memories of roadside hassle in the 60's and 70's due to the dreaded CB points.Keep the points if you will,but I,for one,do not care to journey down that particular road ever again!
Happy New Year to all , David.

[Roni]

I also have had many years and lots of trouble free miles with electronic distributors. Messing about with points is high on my list of things to avoid.
Ironically, the only ignition breakdown I had was when I tried fitting the std "carry a spare in the boot" dist to see if it would work as a spare. It did, for about half a mile. It was working fine when it was taken off originally.

[lesrollins]

Well I went down the route and invested in a electronic distrributor from simonbbc complete with new coil, cap and red rotor arm. So just a couple of questions.

1.The dizzy I am removing as only got one wire coming from it which goes to the coil, the new dizzy as two wires coming from it. Am I reading correct on the information sheet that the red wire goes to the + of the coil and the black wire goes to the = side of the coil. and from the wiring loom a white wire goes to the + side of the coil does this wire still need to stay connected to the coil when the new dizzy is fitted.

2 When using a timing light I know that I have to mark the tdc notch with a white mark and the fixed notch with a white mark, whilst using the timing light and at tick over I presume I have to move the dizzy until the marks align is that the way to do it ?

Thanks for your help

[Alec]

Hello Les,

firstly I have to assume your car is negative earth?

Connect the distributor to the coil as per instructions and the original white wire still goes to th + ve terminal of the coil, this is the live feed from the ignition switch.

If you align the fixed and TDC mark, your timing will be retarded, you need to set the pulley mark to the static timing, whatever that is, as a starting point. Once running test drive to get the optimum timing, i.e just retarded off the point at which the engine pinks.

Alec

[lesrollins]

Yes the car is negative earth. It is a 1098cc fitted

Just looking briefly thru the haynes manual there is a picture showing the crankshaft pulley and three pointers looking face on the pointer on the left is TDC, the pointer in the middle is showing 5 and the pointer on the right is also showing 5. The picture on another page shows a later model engine with TDC and then to its left five markers reading from left to right 20 16 12 8 4 TDC I am not sure what set of markers my engine is fitted with as I do not no wether it is the earlier or later engine, as the car is a 1956 but I fitted the 1098 engine into it. As i,m off work today I will have a look later.

Again looking in the manual under the ignition system spec it is saying that ignition timing low compression is 4 BTDC and high compression is 5

So if the car is fitted with the three notches TDC 5 5, I presume ignition timing is set with the 5 in the middle or slightly to the left to represent 4

And if it is fitted with the later markers 20 16 12 8 4 TDC, ignition timing is set slightly to the left of the 4 to reresent 5

And finally, if thats how its done I need to purchase a timing light. GULP! i,m sure things ain,t that hard

[bmcecosse]

As Alex says - don't worry about the timing - just get it running then twiddle the dizzy to get the nicest idle - then road test to check it's not quite pinking. The wiring always causes confusion - get it wrong and the lectronics are fried.........

[lesrollins]

Item edited above bmcecosse cheers

I have just checked the pulley on the car and it must be the earlier type as it as only got the three markers T.D.C. 5 5

I hope this is of help to anyone that can answer the question from above
Cheers

[phurn]

What's wrong with gaslight ??? The electronic ignition is modern cars is a very different beast from the sytems fitted to dizzies........ I would love to have Megajolt - but electronics don't agree with me......

when i was in the 924 owners club a guy fited one of those, was fairly straight forward, ccupied little space and made the car much more nippy in the process. worth every penny from what i saw!

[bmcecosse]

If it was a bolt-on job I wouldn't hesitate to do it.........

[phurn]

i have to say it wasnt that bad of a job at all, and you can get that engine set up like you never could with a dizzy. i seem to remember him getting 2-3 more miles to the gallon too..... though witht he fuel system on that car it migth just have made its own mind up to be economical... bloody things.

the best mod i saw there was a guy who fitted two fireblade bike carbs... that thing shifted! sounded mighty impressive too, best of all, it got rid of the awfull 70's fuel injection!

[tomas.geoghegan]

I Think Electronic ignition is a Fantastic solution for a problem that is not realy there.
Point are very reliable. Keep it Standard.
Tom