Electronic Ignition, How many of you have it? Options

[Colorado_Doug]

A coworker of mine has been bugging to get an electronic ignition for my 914. He doesn't own one so I'm not sure about his advise. How many of you have it installed? What kind? Pros & Cons?

Thanks,
Doug

[machina]

if your talking about something like an MSD or Mallory Hyfire box, mainly give better idle and starting but ultimate performance is really not affected.

Also good if you want a soft touch rev limiter on the motor.

A good mallory dizzy however will improve performance and tuneablility.

dr

[majkos]

Doug (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif) F.I. or Carbs.?

[McMark]

I have put a Pertronix in every car I own. It's fairly easy to install (I can do it in about 10 minutes now) and it works as expected. The only bad thing is that you can't leave the ignition on (to listen to music while you're parked waiting for someone) or you can burn the unit up. Pertronix II takes care of that, but is more expensive.

[SLITS]

Have run Petronix, Compufire and Allison/Crane. All worked fine for me, but I prefer the Allison/Crane Optical system. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif)

[Colorado_Doug]

Doug (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif) F.I. or Carbs.?

D-Jetronic FI

[majkos]

That'll rule out a nice dizzy,'less there's one out that I'm not aware of. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif) Pertronix is a easy,quick and affordable upgrade. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif) Many people on this list has a MSD set-up.Not many with a Jacob Omni Magum,which I have.Easy install also. How much clams in your buget?

[weird_looking_cactus]

So when your intstalling something like this do you just take out the dizzy and what else do you have to do.

[McMark]

You have to take the dizzy out to save your sanity. It makes installing a Pertronix much easier. Taking out the dizzy is a quick and easy procedure.

[Chris H.]

I have a Pertronix. It was very easy to install. I left my dizzy in the car, just took the engine lid off so I could work on it easier. It really smoothed out my idle and low-end. I have L-Jet FI.

[Jake Raby]

Unless you have D jet, you cannot beat the Mallory....

I use them religously!

[anthony]

You have to take the dizzy out to save your sanity.

Just make sure you set the car at top dead center before you take the dizzy out so you can put it back in the right position.

The pertronix type things are great for our aging distributors. I was going to buy a rebuilt distributor but you can't find a 2L distributor so what I ended up doing was taking apart and cleaning/oiling my dizzy and then adding a Pertronix. Idle and revving smoothed out and the timing is now easy to set because it doesn't jump around. I also had wandering dwell syndrom which the Pertronix took care of.

[McMark]

The distributor only goes in one way. You don't need to worry about TDC. Now if you take out the drive gear that lives below the dizzy then you need to know where you are, but the dizzy is a no-brainer. Just pull it.

[anthony]

Mark, if you don't set it at TDC then your timing will be all messed up when you put the dizzy back. If you take it out with the rotor at the TDC notch then you can put it back the same way and the car will run. Then it will only need a little fine tuning with the timing light.

[McMark]

I see you're talking about loosening the clamp. Yes, putting it at TDC can help reset the timing, but you can also just put the vacuum canister back into the same location and you still don't have to worry about TDC.

Technically, the shaft will be in the same orientation, but the body could be in a different orientation, thereby upsetting your timing. But this isn't like cars that have gears on the bottom of the dizzy. You don't have to pay that close of attention.

[STL914]

I too have installed the Pertronix on my 2.2 liter with D-jet. That was about 5 years ago and have had no problems at all. In fact, the unit outlasted my car. It is now in my newly purchased 72 along with the 2.2 liter.

Bought mine from GPR for roughly $60. Very good investment. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif)

[nebreitling]

i like the crane xr700.

$90 summitracing

[d7n7master]

I've been using the Crane Fireball XR700 for about 4 years on our '73 914- 2.0 D-Jet. Good investment. Bonus: It pays for itself over time. No more points and condenser to set, clean, replace. Starts right up, idles smooth, timing never changes. Set it & forget it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) Ohhh, Keep the ground wire termination clean & tight or all bets are off... (don't ask how I know that (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) )

[SLITS]

The pertronix type things are great for our aging distributors. I was going to buy a rebuilt distributor but you can't find a 2L distributor so what I ended up doing was taking apart and cleaning/oiling my dizzy and then adding a Pertronix. Idle and revving smoothed out and the timing is now easy to set because it doesn't jump around. I also had wandering dwell syndrom which the Pertronix took care of.

Since the housings are basically the same, with the major difference being the advance curve (prolly a combo of weights and springs), I was going to take some new Euro Type 3 units, use the housing and drive/advance/cam assembly and put the springs and weights from a 2.0 in it - wella - a new dizzy except for the used weights and springs. The only problem is would not have the correct Bosch OE on it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool_shades.gif)

[anthony]

As it turned out I don't think my dizzy needed rebuilding. There wasn't any side to side play in the bearings and just a little up and down play. Cleaning 30 years of gunked up grease out of it worked wonders.

Another cheap way to get a 2L rebuilt unit would be to buy one of the cheap A1 Cardone units from the FLAPS and then transfer the weights over. They cost about $60.