Looking into electronic ignition (stock 1.8 L-jet). Any recommendations?

EDIT: already has a Pertronix ignitor installed...

My favorite ..... Crane XR 700 Optical Trigger about $120 on the high end

My least favorites ..... Permatune, Compufire "hall effect" modules .... about $70

Then you can really start blowing bucks on Mallory and CDI systems.

And you will get the same answer on NARP.

thanks...would you be able to post a link or something where I can find it...also, what does it involve as far as installation is concerned...thanks so much....--JON

ok...umm, anyone?

and finally


IV store

The Bird

Pretty good there George .........


1. All really require that dizzy be removed from engine for ease of installation.

2. Permatune & Compufire ...
Remove points, install module in place of points, slide magnetic trigger over
point cam, pull wires thru hole in dizzy, connect to coil, install dizzy, retime engine.

3. Crane is a little more involved in the installation of the sensor module. Follow instructions .... shouldn't be a problem.

Electronic ignition?

There's the crane optical as SLITS mentioned above.

The critical question to ask is... how much are you looking to spend?

$0-$75
Go with a pertronix ignitor.

$75-$150
Go with the crane setup.

$150-$300
Get a Mallory Unilite distributor.

$300+
Get a Mallory Unilite distribtor and Hyfire 6A MSD unit.

There's also the Compufire DIS-IX:

Click to view attachment

Most of those other alternatives are just points replacement modules or improved distributors. The DIS-IX is real direct ignition and throws a helluva big spark. It isn't crankfire, uses the 009 distributor as the trigger. I gave that engine to my son and it's still throwing big blue sparks six years later. Except for the 009 advance curve (I actually used a 010) it works great. Needs special wires (comes in the kit) and a wider plug gap. About 300 bucks.

I've also used an Electromotive HPX crankfire, but not on a VW engine. Electromotive does have trigger wheels for VW's (914's) though. I've also bought one of the Megajolt Lite Jr. kits, which uses cheap and easy to find Ford EDIS parts, but haven't put it together yet. Of all the alternatives it seems it will be the best, with a provision for vacuum advance and fully programmable advance curve. Good stuff, better, more modern, and lots cheaper than any of the other alternatives listed. No question about the dependability of the Ford parts, maybe some questions about my soldering abilities.

What do we have to do to get you to start a thread about the Megajolt? I'd really like to see how that goes together and functions on a 914.

You buy one, and we'all will be behind you

How much is a Megajolt? I may be interested to try.

..why not just keep the points...working fine, aren't they.

Ever hear these two words together?

"Floating Points".

Not fun. Causes some 'issues' on L-Jet cars too...

Unfortunately no more aircooled at my house. That ignition's going onto a Ford Zetech motor that's being converted to Weber side-drafts (for the Lotus Seven replica) but will keep the crankfire flywheel, etc. But I'm sure someone has already put that ignition onto an A/C VW/914. There's a lot of activity in the Megasquirt/Megajolt groups, and E-Bay is lousy with people selling the Ford EDIS parts for the Megasquirt/Megajolt applications.

You want Megajolt LIte Jr (MJLJ). The parts are $80-90 as a kit or $150-160 fully assembled at Brent Picasso's webpage, then the used Ford EDIS parts are $20-30 either on E-Bay (search for megasquirt or megajolt EDIS in Parts and Accessories). I bought the IC from Picasso and the rest of the parts from Digikey for a bit less than that. There's also an ignition map library, so the only complicated part is fitting the trigger wheel and sensor mount. Advice is to put it behind the fan where its protected and more stable, not on the outside, but as mentioned earlier I can't help much with that since I'm not putting mine on a VW motor. Then you can put a rubber plug in the distributor hole and throw the old distributor and wires away.