The ultimate ignition system

Dawg wrote: I plan to... put a nice heatsink under the ignition module...

Damien, I don't know whether you've ever seen This thread in this forum.

I posted the same thing at PFF and there was a good exhange of information, including a spin-off thread which described the complete relocation of the ignition module and ignition coil away from the engine/heat. That might be the "ultimate" way to go.

Dawg wrote: If there is any interest, I could set up a demo for one of the club meetings.  I would bring my test gear and compare old and new.

Sounds good to me!

 

Romeo wrote: That would be SO gnarley.

Tristan, us old guys require a translation.

 

Car-2-Lo wrote: Patrick wrote: Romeo wrote: That would be SO gnarley. Tristan, us old guys require a translation. That's GROOVY

Okay, I can dig it!

 

No sir!

 

I hope Dawg doesn't mind, but if this is any idea of the direction he is going with his parts, I can't wait to see what results.

Holy Crap look at that hunk of metal, I don't think a module ever could heat that thing up.   At the very least it would keep the temperature at a much more stable rate of increase and decrease.   Should be really interesting.   There is another mod to the dist shaft we should also talk about.   The plate that the module and such is mounted to, is just pressed onto the dist shaft.  We might want to look into what it would take to make it more secure and then making a nicer machined transition between the shaft and the plate.   I have a simple idea in my head, but will have to talk to you to find out if it is cost effective to do it.

Capt Fiero wrote: There is another mod to the dist shaft we should also talk about.   The plate that the module and such is mounted to, is just pressed onto the dist shaft.

On that note....

I've had at least 1 or 2 distributor failures over the years that were attributable to it being pressed on.

A fine layer of corrosion can build up between the two surfaces.  This creates a layer of resistance that drops the voltage to the module (since it grounds via the plate).  That increases the current, which increases the heat!  Bad all around.

One of 'em was a real crazy maker.  Until I figured out WTF was going on - this guy would go out in the morning in the cold season before he drove off to work, and stick a hair dryer under his distributor to HEAT it up!  Car would then start fine.  He had to go out and run the car for 10 minutes or so every 3 hours while he was at work, or it wouldn't start at the end of the day!

As a fix, I ended up drilling a small hole and tapping it, then putting a screw in, right where the plate met the body.  Crude, but it worked.  :)

Making a small weld to keep the two pieces as one would not be a bad idea.  I'll try and do that on the next one.

As for the supressor, I'm thinking an MOV.  They come in different voltages and they're pretty tough.  I'm convinced that voltage spikes coming from the coil could be killing the odd ignition module and weakening them all.

This module is old school and very small.  There simply isn't enough space there to have effective protection.  I bet there isn't any.

My digital scope has a built in Minimum/Maximum reading feature.  It's fast too.  It should pick up and record any big spikes.  After I get Michelle's car back on the road, I'm going to set up an experiment where I'll leave a full ignition setup working for several hours with the scope watching.  Hopefully I can get an idea of the extent of the problem.

I've actually watched what looks like spikes showing up on the scope.  The effect is much worse with an MSD coil.  In fact, those coils make the ignition module work much harder than OEM coils do.  They're brutal.  Spark real good though.

Here's distributor #1 ready for action.  It goes in tomorrow.  Thanks to Dave for lending us his for a while.  You're the best man!

DG

grokan wrote: would it be possible to just relocate the ignition module?

Yes.

Patrick wrote: Dawg wrote: I plan to... put a nice heatsink under the ignition module... Damien, I don't know whether you've ever seen This thread in this forum. I posted the same thing at PFF and there was a good exhange of information, including a spin-off thread which described the complete relocation of the ignition module and ignition coil away from the engine/heat. That might be the "ultimate" way to go. Dawg wrote: If there is any interest, I could set up a demo for one of the club meetings.  I would bring my test gear and compare old and new. Sounds good to me!

Those are Rare Earth Magnets.  The pickup coil relies on the magnets in the head of the dist shaft to do its work.  When those magnets get weak the cause the pickup no to work right.

I'll let Damien explain it better.  However in principle it should allow out pickup coil to function much better and last a great deal longer.