123/TUNE electronic distributor

[PC_Hater]

My 1965 1098cc Moggie was due a service and having had enough of points I decided it was time to fit electronic ignition. Plan A was to fit something like the Ford EDIS system where you have a trigger wheel on the end of the crank and 4 coils like on a Japanese bike. Looking at the work involved in fitting the trigger wheel I decided against it. If your engine is on the bench do it!

I went for Plan B instead - fit a 123/TUNE electronic distributor. I bought mine from leenapk.nl because it was £100 cheaper than buying it in the UK.
I bought the recommended Bosch hi-power coil too. Fitted that first and ran about with that for a few days. Perked things up a bit - much better than the tired old coil that was in there!

Then I installed the 123/TUNE. It was a bit fiddly to install, 3 attempts faffing about until I was happy. Being fully programmable I used info I found surfing about. Bad move. My first attempt made the car run worse - no power for going up hills. Ooops. My second very clever attempt made the car run even worse! Hmm. The third and successful attempt used data from the Lucas Distributor list, the data for the Lucas Service Number 40849A distributor was programmed in there. Works very well thank you. The Vacuum Advance I used was one posted on the 123 ignition forum by someone with a 1275 motor.

I loathe Windoze so the Windoze 7 Home Premium edition was running as a virtual machine using Oracle Virtualbox on an old Toshiba Satellite laptop running debian unstable linux. Talked to the 123/TUNE without problems.

The blanking plug for the USB socket on the 123/TUNE is made of monkey metal so be careful what implement you use to remove/replace it. Also, the 123/TUNE uses kPa for vacuum not inches of Mercury so be a bit careful there!

The Advance curve I am using is this, and I am sure it can be tweaked to run better:-
max rpm = 6000 rpm
500 rpm = 0 degrees advance
600 rpm = 3 degrees advance
1800 rpm = 26 degrees advance
3200 rpm = 34 degrees advance
6400 rpm = 34 degrees advance
8000 rpm = 18 degrees advance

The Vacuum Advance curve I am using is this, and I am sure it can be tweaked to run better:-
MAP sensor starts at 1200 rpm
0 KkPa = 0 degrees advance
35 kPa = 0 degrees advance
40 kPA = 14 degrees advance
69 kPa = 14 degrees advance
81 kPa = 0 degrees advance
100 kPA = 0 degrees advance
200 kPa = 0 degrees advance

Yes it uses a built-in MAP (Manifold Absolute Pressure) sensor just like a modern fuel injected car.

Useful info I found while surfing the net was the following:-
http://www.starchak.ca/tech/pdfs/lucas.pdf
Lucas Distributor list giving the specs of all Lucas Distributors since year dot.

http://www.starchak.ca/tech/pdfs/lucastuning.pdf
tells you how easy it is to tune the Lucas Distributor yourself instead of paying a fortune for someone else to do it. Getting hold of suitable springs seems to be the only problem.

[bmcecosse]

Pretty standard dizzy settings - and not too critical for a standard engine. Not sure why you list advance at high revs - the 1098 breaks the crank if you run it over 6000 rpm.

[Alec]

Hello PC_Hater,

"The third and successful attempt used data from the Lucas Distributor list,"

The manufacturer would have spent hours on a dynamometer to get the best average setting, so it's sensible to copy that, it's known to work.

Alec

[MarkyB]

Make sure you are sitting down before you click the link Roy


http://www.leenapk.nl/products.php?category_id=74

[lambrettalad]

wow !!!mine cost £50 all in

[bmcecosse]

Hahahahahahahahahahaha - for a standard engine?? It costs more than the engine is worth!!

[tomas.geoghegan]

Had enough of points WHY????????
I call it trying solve a problem thats not really there. Again Total Waste of Time and Money.The problem you have not out ways if any problem you would have with points. although im sure there will be many who will argue this with me.
Tomas

[lambrettalad]

your correct

[MarkyB]

286.2799 British pounds sterling and some of it is monkey metal!
Interesting at a very technical level, but unless you do some more tweaks then get the best out of them using a rolling road what is the point?
Running a virtual PC is a bit of a cop out, hard core would be to write the code to talk to the dizzy in C.

[les]

How long do you have to mess with a Minor before you realize you can buy faster cars off the peg?

[chrisryder]

How long do you have to mess with a Minor before you realize you can buy faster cars off the peg?

Until there's one that looks like a Morris Minor

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Crikey! That's a hell of a lot to spend on a system which has no appreciable benefit over points other than not needing to change them.

You could have fully rebuilt your engine and had change with that amount.

[les]

Btw welcome to the forum!!

[bmcecosse]

[PC_Hater]

I am a grumpy middle aged man.
More than that, I am a grumpy middle aged engineer.
Could I re-write the interface in C to run on my linux box? Well, yes. Can I be bothered? Err. No. Not today anyway. Too busy building a new guitar. And all three Hardleys need a bit of spanner time. Bikes are important, you understand that? Cars are just because I am getting old and sometimes rain and snow get on my nerves and the cold makes my hands and knees hurt.
Have I done points in the past? Yes. Can I be bothered now? No.
I wring the changes between cost and time. Sometimes I do it the cheap old way, and sometimes I just can't be bothered anymore. I run a Moggie because it is cheap (dragging it into the 21st Century notwithstanding!). I have the true running cost of my cars going back 15 years. The Moggie is one of the cheapest cars I have ever owned. Plan A is to keep it for a long time. I am coming up to two years on Classic dirt cheap insurance at which point my current insurer says my built-up no claims bonus will be gone. Hmm. DILLIGAF?
As the saying goes "I spend all my money on beer and bikes, the rest is just wasted."

I have spent many hours surfing this forum, working out what is true and what is not...
Drum brakes.
They work. No need for discs at all. I had to do an emergency stop because of a mad woman in a Mercedes soft top. No problems at all given a good stomp with feet shod in the same army boots I use to ride the bike.
Repeated crash stops from high speed? Not happening. Only one stop from "high" speed is required...

Original cross-ply tyres.
Lethal. Ditched early on when I bought nice new 15" wheels to take narrow modern tyres. (165/65R15) They work well in snow - the car tootled nicely up the steep hills where I live when modern front wheel drive stuff gave up and turned round.
The car goes through floods just as well as my Reliant Robin or the Scimitars did, or even the bad mistake of the only Ford I ever owned.

I use nice thin modern oils too. The original owners manual likes thin oils although Duckhams 20W50 does get a mention.
Now, do I go for the DIY EFI next or the bigger SU HS4 carb. Decisions decisions...

[MarkyB]

Glad you weren't put off by the "welcome"
Incorporating a knock sensor would make an interesting project.

[les]

Not quite sure whats brought all this on, but take it easy or you won't last to become a grumpy OLD man!

[bmcecosse]

Definitely go for the injection............mega squirt is favoured by the Mini lads, but then they run it from the mega jolt ignition system On a 1098 engine - perhaps not....

[dalebrignall]

got my electronic dizzy from accuspark 50 odd pounds worked just fine .

[lambrettalad]

Dale ,
snap ! one years trouble free motoring,after so many failed condensers .I'm a happy choppy