Electronic Ignition, to MSD or NOT to MSD Options

[TheReverend]

I've been researching and it seems the Electronic Ignition Conversion Kit for 4-cylinder VW Porsche made by PerTonix is a good option. Any thoughts? I do like this option as there is no additional drilling and mounting of the MSD box..

anyone have either? I know I am tired of points. Old school is cool, but not with points.

[Cairo94507]

TheReverend- Congratulations on your purchase and enthusiasm as you once again place your toes atop that slippery slope we all know and have come to love.

If I could make a suggestion it would be nice to do an introduction thread which gives a brief overview of your Porsche ownership history and then of course......POST SOME PICTURES of your new car please for all of us to enjoy. Give some history on your car and condition so as you move along with work we will all know what you have to work with when it comes to assistance and parts.

As for the electronic ignition conversion I do not know enough to offer counsel. But what I do know is there are some crazy talented engine builders here who would be able to answer this question while also filing their tax returns and cooking dinner.

McMark at Original Customs is close to us and he has skills. Look for some of the engine build threads and contact the builders and see what input they provide.

As a lay-person, I would think that going electronic ignition makes sense over the old points/rotor system. But that is just my gut feeling.

Half off the fun of building these cars is figuring this type of stuff out.

Have fun and please post some pictures of the entire car.

[struckn]

I've been researching and it seems the Electronic Ignition Conversion Kit for 4-cylinder VW Porsche made by PerTonix is a good option. Any thoughts? I do like this option as there is no additional drilling and mounting of the MSD box..

anyone have either? I know I am tired of points. Old school is cool, but not with points.

I have Pertronix in my 914 and in some of my other cars and it is an excellent option to running Points. The intallation is relatively simple. In talking to the Tech at Pertronixs he advised that the Coil needs to be a 3 Ohm coil. Pertronix makes a Flame Thrower Coil (for 4 and 6 (cycl) model#4051 (chrome) which is 3 Ohm and will produce a higher out put spark then a stock coil. I bought the coil from carshopinc.com for $31 which was a great price. Also you can increase your spark plug gap to .040 - .050 with this coil for better performance due to the higher out put of the Coil. If you stay with the stock coil make sure it has an internal, or external Ballast resistor, if not you could kill the Pertronix sensor. one other thing to mention is to make sure the plug wire to the coil snaps in. The pertronix coil has a slightly larger diameter female connection so you may need to spread the plug wire's male contact open a little. I just stuck a round pointed closed plyer in the plug wire and then opened the plyers to expand the connection pin until it fit tightly in the coil.

[c12croft]

Doug,
Your description was very informative. Would it be possible to support your prose with several photos? I wasn't even considering a changeover until I saw your post. Thank you.

[SLITS]

The beauty of an electronic trigger is that they are not thrown out of whack by a wobbly distributor shaft and don't suffer from points bounce. The dwell is constant.

Bosch Blue Coils are internally resisted.

I prefer the LED trigger (Crane Optical Systems), but they actually require some thought on installation.

That said, I'm going to crank trigger on my six.

Oh well .......

[struckn]

Doug,
Your description was very informative. Would it be possible to support your prose with several photos? I wasn't even considering a changeover until I saw your post. Thank you.

Better yet.....check out this site, gives a great review and photo's.

http://www.vwcartel.com/projects/pertronix...c-ignition.html

Doug

[TheReverend]

AWESOME info...thanks man

I've been researching and it seems the Electronic Ignition Conversion Kit for 4-cylinder VW Porsche made by PerTonix is a good option. Any thoughts? I do like this option as there is no additional drilling and mounting of the MSD box..

anyone have either? I know I am tired of points. Old school is cool, but not with points.

I have Pertronix in my 914 and in some of my other cars and it is an excellent option to running Points. The intallation is relatively simple. In talking to the Tech at Pertronixs he advised that the Coil needs to be a 3 Ohm coil. Pertronix makes a Flame Thrower Coil (for 4 and 6 (cycl) model#4051 (chrome) which is 3 Ohm and will produce a higher out put spark then a stock coil. I bought the coil from carshopinc.com for $31 which was a great price. Also you can increase your spark plug gap to .040 - .050 with this coil for better performance due to the higher out put of the Coil. If you stay with the stock coil make sure it has an internal, or external Ballast resistor, if not you could kill the Pertronix sensor. one other thing to mention is to make sure the plug wire to the coil snaps in. The pertronix coil has a slightly larger diameter female connection so you may need to spread the plug wire's male contact open a little. I just stuck a round pointed closed plyer in the plug wire and then opened the plyers to expand the connection pin until it fit tightly in the coil.

[TheReverend]

all said and done, I think this is a great interim option. This is my 5th 914, and the ones with MSD box always gave me the best results. For this one, I think I will go ahead and do the Pentronix. I'm gonna order the coil as well. Seems like solid good advice. New wires to boot.... oh hell, spark plugs and cap while I'm at it..

thanks all.. I'll post and update and some photos along the way.. still learning this board..

The Reverend

AWESOME info...thanks man

I've been researching and it seems the Electronic Ignition Conversion Kit for 4-cylinder VW Porsche made by PerTonix is a good option. Any thoughts? I do like this option as there is no additional drilling and mounting of the MSD box..

anyone have either? I know I am tired of points. Old school is cool, but not with points.

I have Pertronix in my 914 and in some of my other cars and it is an excellent option to running Points. The intallation is relatively simple. In talking to the Tech at Pertronixs he advised that the Coil needs to be a 3 Ohm coil. Pertronix makes a Flame Thrower Coil (for 4 and 6 (cycl) model#4051 (chrome) which is 3 Ohm and will produce a higher out put spark then a stock coil. I bought the coil from carshopinc.com for $31 which was a great price. Also you can increase your spark plug gap to .040 - .050 with this coil for better performance due to the higher out put of the Coil. If you stay with the stock coil make sure it has an internal, or external Ballast resistor, if not you could kill the Pertronix sensor. one other thing to mention is to make sure the plug wire to the coil snaps in. The pertronix coil has a slightly larger diameter female connection so you may need to spread the plug wire's male contact open a little. I just stuck a round pointed closed plyer in the plug wire and then opened the plyers to expand the connection pin until it fit tightly in the coil.