Luddite upgrades to electronic ignition

decampos

decampos

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Thought I'd share this as I'm genuinely surprised/impressed. The purest in me had banished the idea of electronic ignition and abandoning my beloved points but they really do suck bumhole. I installed a new set a couple of months ago and already there was a problem with pitting.

All over the forum there's general praise for Petronix but the guy who runs the BMW CS register here in the UK recommended 'Accuspark' to me (he has no affiliation, neither do I). http://www.accuspark.co.uk/accuspark.html (not particularly nice looking site). From what I can tell, it's more or less the same as the Petronix. It was £30 ($50 or so?). Installation was easy and there's only the one extra wire that's visible over the stock set-up up so I can deal with that.

I did need to adjust the distributor afterwards as it threw the timing way out so a timing light was needed.

I did a 40 mile test journey (with the points and condenser in the tool kit just in case) and it ran noticeably better and was very smooth right through the rev range. So far so good. What took me so long?

accuspark.jpg


Distributor showing the ignition module and the other thing. The white goop is heatsink paste. Looks much filthier here than in the flesh.
 
Have had my points, etc in the trunk for 15 years while running Petronix. It has never, ever even hiccupped. You are safe.
 
What took you so long? Well, it is a computer of sorts, and when they work, they work well. When they don't work, you're stuck. Took me a long time to cross that threshold with my Crane set-up. Not nearly as elegant as a Petronix, but it has worked well for 8 years. I also carry points in my trunk/boot.
 
I know your reluctance to go electronic.
I had an early crane on my 1972 vw bus. I put over 250k miles on that unit. I had an extra light sensor in the tool box just in case. Bus is long gone and I still have the extra sensor in my tool box
I have had the crane unit in my CS for the last 15 years.

I know it isn't old school, but they work better and last longer than points and condensor hands down.

When installed properly and tuned, it just stays there with no ISSUES. How can you ask for more than that.
 
I use a stock points distributor in my Bav to trigger an MSD-6T. They last a long time, but I did have to put a tach adapter in so my current driven tach would work.
 
Well I upgraded from lumenition electronic to Omex mapped ignition - so my my distributor does nothing more than point the spark at the right plug! I obviously have signals from crank position and throttle angle instead.
 
Still a holdout here but have thought of it many times.

It should be noted that your old distributor still has play in the drive gear, there's play in the cam gear and play on the cam chain. Pertronix does not eliminate those, so your dwell and timing can and will still vary just about as much as they did before the install.
 
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