Ignition system options Options

[Charles Freeborn]

Greetings all,
My car has an Electromotive HPV-1 crank fire ignition that seems to have given up the ghost. The car will run for a few minutes (badly - backfiring out exhaust stumbling) and then die altogether. No spark. When it's stone cold it'll rinse and repeat. It doesn't run long enough to have engine heat be the cause, so I fear it's a component inside that's shorting and causing it to fail. The circuitry is all potted so I can't easily see if there are any fried bits.
I've gone through the install countless times, new crank sensor, ground wires up the wazoo but no love. The company is long gone, so factory service NA.
Does anyone know of a repair or replacement service for these, is it worth it, or should I chuck it all and start over? I honestly don't know if the distributor drive gears are still in the engine. It was all built by Fat Performance in the '90's, but they seem to be gone too.
TIA,
-C

[slivel]

Greetings all,
My car has an Electromotive HPV-1 crank fire ignition that seems to have given up the ghost. The car will run for a few minutes (badly - backfiring out exhaust stumbling) and then die altogether. No spark. When it's stone cold it'll rinse and repeat. It doesn't run long enough to have engine heat be the cause, so I fear it's a component inside that's shorting and causing it to fail. The circuitry is all potted so I can't easily see if there are any fried bits.
I've gone through the install countless times, new crank sensor, ground wires up the wazoo but no love. The company is long gone, so factory service NA.
Does anyone know of a repair or replacement service for these, is it worth it, or should I chuck it all and start over? I honestly don't know if the distributor drive gears are still in the engine. It was all built by Fat Performance in the '90's, but they seem to be gone too.
TIA,
-C

Maybe you can find one on eBay or try swapping out the plug-in coil packs. Probably low chance of success but if one of the coil packs is shorted, it might cause overheating in the main circuitry.

I have two of these on my twin plug six 914 and will someday be in the same position when one or both fail. Mine have been on my car for more than 20 years so I might be on borrowed time. At the track I always had one or two spare coil packs. Only ever needed to replace a coil pack one time.

[brant]

I saw a post shed one in the classifieds not too long ago

Might be able to swap t out cheap. That way

But agree the other option would be new ignition with crank fire

[slivel]

I assume that you have the manual, but if not, they are available online.

Here is an excerpt from the manual:

[Charles Freeborn]

Thanks all for ideas. I've tested and grounded everything to excess. Plug wires are new, crank sensor new, coils tested and confirmed good. Voltage to and from sensor correct. As of today I've conclusively concluded that it's the unit itself and most likely on the coil side of the processor. The engine will run (badly- misfiring) for 5 minutes and then die from lack of spark. It's done it twice in a row so my control group is complete. It's not from engine heat as it's not run enough for that so it's something internal shorting that heats up and then fails. I've seen them pop up in classifieds (missed one 2 months ago) but they're getting rare. Not necessarily valuable, just rare. Problem is that any unit I find will be as old as mine.
Current options are to go with the Performance Engineering PE3 (sold by Clewitt) or one of the new 123 distributors and chuck the crank fire. Both have plusses and minuses. Some vintage sanction bodies prefer to see a distributor (even if it's electronic) so that's a plus. The 123 programs with an iPhone, vs the PE3 requires plugging in a laptop. Cost of those 2 systems are competitive.
I will keep an eye on the classifieds, but I fear the listings are drying up.

[infraredcalvin]

Post a pic of what you have, I’ve never seen a setup for a 4. I picked up an extra for a 6 in case once of mine craps out, but I’m really leaning towards finding something more current to replace it with even a more current electromotive product…

[Charles Freeborn]

Post a pic of what you have, I’ve never seen a setup for a 4. I picked up an extra for a 6 in case once of mine craps out, but I’m really leaning towards finding something more current to replace it with even a more current electromotive product…

There are some TEC3 era units on Ebay, as well as other misc parts but the software used to program them may or may not run on any current version of Windows, plus cables are often missing (probably left on the car when dismantled) so that's a treasure hunt... The TEC units were designed to also run fuel injection, and may need some of those inputs (MAP, etc) to work properly. Not to mention that EM is long gone so serviceability is non existent no matter the age of the unit... I'm okay with programing but not expert by any means so flailing away at a laptop doesn't exactly excite me.
I may just have to bite the bullet and buy a modern system such as the PE3.

[PlaysWithCars]

I've been running the MegaJolt unit from Autosport Labs for many years now with good success. Similar to MegaSquirt, but this is only ignition. It uses the Ford EDIS control and coil packs that are readily available.

[Charles Freeborn]

Great advice everyone. I've decided to go back to old school and put a distributor back in with a Pertronix. It's technology I grew up with and can easily tune. I'll pull the vacuum can, pin the plate and set it for full advance at 3-4k. I'm thinking 30ishº total. A friend gave me a Bosch 060 (912E) in great shape. I've run Pertronix in my 911 for years without a problem so again, familiar territory. The new III unit has rev limit and multi spark so no need for CDI. Simple simple simple.. .just like me.
-C