10 replies to this topic

[Retro Richard]

Can anyone recommend a good upgraded coil to replace a standard oil filled 12v jobby. Also is it worth going down the route of an MSD unit or similar ignition amplifier on a 4 cylinder engine.

[ricky]

dissy conversions were always a good idea but if they went wrong they became a pain to get around. a spare dissy is a good idea in case of a problem. a std 12v coil is normally very reliable and give few problems. the choice as they say is yours i'm afraid, the engine does run better with other benefits until they play up. regards ricky

[Retro Richard]

Well I bit the bullet and spent some cash.
I now have a brand new standard coil, ( slight improvement in running )
A brand new distributor cap ( noticeable improvement )
And an MSD 6AL-2 ignition booster ( MASSIVE improvement )

I also did stacks of research and found out a few interesting things.

Coils should be matched to the way you drive your engine and its state of tune, modified or sport coils tend to work at their best between 3000 and 9000 rpm, great if you are always reving your engine hard but not if you drive at lower revs mostly. A standard coil will produce a better spark from 400 to 4000 rpm. MSD make ignition control systems most of them work on the principal that the 12v that the coil is given is compromised by the circuitry of the car and can never work at full strength. It uses the points as a low current switch ( it can also work on hall effect sensors ) to trigger the box into firing the coil up to 20 times per compression stroke (up to 3000 rpm) this provides a more complete combustion which can improve performance. Whilst mostly used on V8 engines where the coil has to work that much harder I noticed the improvement on my 4 pot immediately, and as the box claimed, sharper throttle response and smoother idle. There are some other manufacturers equivalents available but google before you buy as some of it has an alarmingly bad reputation. High performance sparks can cause gas build up inside distributer caps which can cause misfires.
Hope some of this helps someone else.

[ultimatecombination]

Retro Richard, on 29 March 2010 - 07:29 PM, said:

High performance sparks can cause gas build up inside distributer caps which can cause misfires.
Hope some of this helps someone else.

Seconded, i read a similar thing in a couple of old-school tuning books for the VW T1 engines. With the MSD high voltage setups you can get loads of arcing (cross-firing) inside the standard non-german caps (I assume cheap pattern parts - much like the shite coming from the east at the mo), hence why they like to use the massive (in comparison) Mallory/CNC style ones. Obviously there are other benefits to these up-rated dizzys (adjustable dwell etc..) but they said this arcing was a particular problem.

just what i read anyway, guess in-short use the right stuff first and buy quality!

then there is Magnetos of course....

[Christian]

One word MegaJolt... or is that meant to be two?

Initially it was a bit of a faff wiring up the system but it was totally worthwhile in the end - the car started first time every time, always idled perfectly and never misfired using the correct ignition map. http://www.autosportlabs.com/

[Retro Richard]

Christian, on 29 March 2010 - 09:19 PM, said:

One word MegaJolt... or is that meant to be two?

Initially it was a bit of a faff wiring up the system but it was totally worthwhile in the end - the car started first time every time, always idled perfectly and never misfired using the correct ignition map. http://www.autosportlabs.com/

I had thought about MJ but I didnt want to spend hours and hours searching for or creating ignition maps. I doubt there is a pre written one for the sprint engine.

[ultimatecombination]

Retro Richard, on 30 March 2010 - 12:58 PM, said:

I had thought about MJ but I didnt want to spend hours and hours searching for or creating ignition maps. I doubt there is a pre written one for the sprint engine.

Yeh Megajolt is a great system an all, but it can be a bit hit and miss at times... Always the way with DIY stuff tho.
Heard good things about the Canems system tho, and its pretty good value from what i hear?

[Christian]

ultimatecombination, on 30 March 2010 - 07:40 PM, said:

Yeh Megajolt is a great system an all, but it can be a bit hit and miss at times... Always the way with DIY stuff tho.

Really, I never had any problems with mine?

[ultimatecombination]

Christian, on 01 April 2010 - 07:44 AM, said:

Really, I never had any problems with mine?

Seems from what iv experienced from the couple iv done is largely down the quality of the EDIS parts you end up using.
Main issue iv had is with the EDIS modules themselves and the connector block into it - afaik they are no-longer available new and iv never been able to source new blocks so your stuck crimping or soldering onto the original wires which now are gonna be at least 6 years old on the youngest units. They all work fine now, just a pain at the time.


I did hear tho the new Megajolt will have its own coil driver, so the EDIS module wont be required in future...

[Christian]

ultimatecombination, on 01 April 2010 - 08:13 PM, said:

Seems from what iv experienced from the couple iv done is largely down the quality of the EDIS parts you end up using.
Main issue iv had is with the EDIS modules themselves and the connector block into it - afaik they are no-longer available new and iv never been able to source new blocks so your stuck crimping or soldering onto the original wires which now are gonna be at least 6 years old on the youngest units. They all work fine now, just a pain at the time.


I did hear tho the new Megajolt will have its own coil driver, so the EDIS module wont be required in future...

That'll be good. I'm quite interested to see the new system, hopefully it'll be a bit more 'bolt on' but then I suppose it defeats the point of it being DIY.

[mirafioriman]

I have a Megajolt to fit to my Fiat 130 but I have the body and paint to do first!