Electronic dizzies

[chimpboy]

What do you guys think of these things?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0491036846

They are "Lucas type" distributors.

Exchange rates are favourable, is this a good way to eliminate points?

[PacMan]

Hi,

i dont know the distributor but did you had a look to EDIS-8.

It is a good solution in some ways and very easy to install.
I planed to do it, but i dont use a Rover engine any longer.


Chris

[DL]

Hi Chimpy,

Have a look at this EDIS set up.

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=50799

Set up for LPG and petrol. Thinking about doing something similar with my 350.

cheers, DL

[chimpboy]

Thanks guys. I have seen the EDIS gear before, it looks good but to be honest it seems like it would still be a bit more work than just dropping a new distributor in. Can you see any obvious negatives to a replacement distributor like this?

[stuee]

Thanks guys. I have seen the EDIS gear before, it looks good but to be honest it seems like it would still be a bit more work than just dropping a new distributor in. Can you see any obvious negatives to a replacement distributor like this?

I guess the only negatives would come down to the quality of the unit. I've learned the hard way that unless I use genuine lucas bits in my ignition it soon dies. Be awesome to replace it but only if your sure its gonna keep working.

[chimpboy]

Hrmm, tried to find this thread before and couldn't.

http://www.outerlimits4x4.com/PHP_Modul ... hp?t=14921

Pity there are no pics.

I guess the megajolt/EDIS approach has the advantage of programmable advance as well, eliminating the vac advance.

I can live with points for as long as necessary but I feel like there should be a quick and simple way to upgrade.

This guy has an interesting little business: http://www.davessmallbodyheis.com/

[lokka]

I did a crane fire ball 3000 conversion from a points dizzy and it works great even with after market dizzy cap and rotor it keeps the vac advance just replace the points with the pick up and fit the chopper disc over the shaft line up the sensor fit the cap set the timing and forget .

I ran this set up for 2.5 years and it never missed a beat i wired it up using a relay so the original power wire to the coil fired a 30A relay which was powered direct from the battery i also used a MSD blaster 12 volt coil which made the spark that strong it near killed me as i wasent carefull enough and got zapped that well it sat me on my arse and made me feel sick .

Im currently thinking of installing this set up into my 3.9 disco and locking the advance as i only run it on LPG and would like the benifit of the stronger spark and reliability over the standard lucas crap .

[DL]

[quote="chimpboy"]
I guess the megajolt/EDIS approach has the advantage of programmable advance as well, eliminating the vac advance.

I can live with points for as long as necessary but I feel like there should be a quick and simple way to upgrade.

[/quote]

Just to make it a lot easier have a look here:

http://trigger-wheels.com/store/

They do Megajolt also and a whole lot of other stuff. Bit of a one stop shop.

cheers, DL

[chimpboy]

Good stuff, perhaps a bit exxy but perhaps not.

When you've got a motor that needs the distributor to drive the oil pump, what's the usual go? It seems a bit crap to put all the EDIS/Megajolt gear in and still have a dizzy sticking out. Would it be a big job to cut it down to make a sort of flat plate finish? I would love to have no dizzy at all.

[RangingRover]

Good stuff, perhaps a bit exxy but perhaps not.

When you've got a motor that needs the distributor to drive the oil pump, what's the usual go? It seems a bit crap to put all the EDIS/Megajolt gear in and still have a dizzy sticking out. Would it be a big job to cut it down to make a sort of flat plate finish? I would love to have no dizzy at all.

One option would be to swap to a serpentine belt timing case, with the oil pump inside that, and just blank the dizzy hole off completely (Unless you scored a series 2 disco or p38 timing cover with no dizzy hole).

The other would simply be to, as you say, cut the dizzy down, housing and all. Obviously, you need to block off the hole in the center, and however you do this, you need to make sure that the remaining piece of dizzy shaft only has a few thou of up and down movement, otherwise when you turn it over, the driving action of the gear will pop the shaft up, and straight out of the oil pump drive. Too tight, and it'll bind up.. In other words, you can't just silicone the hole over, it has to be securely blocked with a steel or ally plug which cannot move .

Personally, I'd leave the bottom piece of dizzy housing in place (from where the clamp locates downward), so that the shaft is nicely located in position (side to side). But another option is to get an piece lathed up to do the same job. Whatever you do, the shaft should probably be removable from the top somehow, as I don't remember if it would be possible to change the cam otherwise (or even get the timing cover off).

If I come up with any good ideas of how to actually do it, I'll let you know, as I'm contemplating adding EDIS to my megasquirt at the moment.... And if the wire in the dizzy that occasionally plays up completely dies, it'll be a sooner rather than later job

[BadMav]

Have you looked at PERTRONIX electronic ignition? Not sure if they make the inserts for a rover but worth a look, they're far cheaper and you don't need to remove the distributor to fit the parts in most cases.

[Loanrangie]

Buick 350 HEI, will drop straight in and no more ignition problems.

[chimpboy]

Buick 350 HEI, will drop straight in and no more ignition problems.

Have you done this or seen it done? I've heard it is not quite that straightforward...?

[lokka]

Do the crane set up like i did its simple to do and fairly cheap and super reliable
I just fitted it to the disco and it made it heaps better across the whole range and it starts easyer too

[91rangie]

I changed to a Chevy HEI real simple and cheap. Bought a new HEI dizzy for $105nz and had it modified to fit for $80nz



Still not 100% water proof so went MegaJolt.
Brought the MegaJolt (pre assembled) unit and trigger wheel from Trigerwheels.com.
Went to local wreckers got 2 sets of leads from a V6 tarus (could'nt find a kit to make my own) Grabbed 2 coil packs and a crank sensor from a couple 4cyl EDIS fords then jumped on ebay and got a V8 EDIS unit.
Made it switch between maps as I switch between LPG and Petrol

Got an old points dizzy and modified to run the oil pump





Mounted the coil packs on the side of the plenum chamber

[Loanrangie]

Buick 350 HEI, will drop straight in and no more ignition problems.

Have you done this or seen it done? I've heard it is not quite that straightforward...?

It is, i have one in a 4.4.

[rangeyrover]

Good stuff, perhaps a bit exxy but perhaps not.

When you've got a motor that needs the distributor to drive the oil pump, what's the usual go? It seems a bit crap to put all the EDIS/Megajolt gear in and still have a dizzy sticking out. Would it be a big job to cut it down to make a sort of flat plate finish? I would love to have no dizzy at all.

One option would be to swap to a serpentine belt timing case, with the oil pump inside that, and just blank the dizzy hole off completely (Unless you scored a series 2 disco or p38 timing cover with no dizzy hole).

The other would simply be to, as you say, cut the dizzy down, housing and all. Obviously, you need to block off the hole in the center, and however you do this, you need to make sure that the remaining piece of dizzy shaft only has a few thou of up and down movement, otherwise when you turn it over, the driving action of the gear will pop the shaft up, and straight out of the oil pump drive. Too tight, and it'll bind up.. In other words, you can't just silicone the hole over, it has to be securely blocked with a steel or ally plug which cannot move .

Personally, I'd leave the bottom piece of dizzy housing in place (from where the clamp locates downward), so that the shaft is nicely located in position (side to side). But another option is to get an piece lathed up to do the same job. Whatever you do, the shaft should probably be removable from the top somehow, as I don't remember if it would be possible to change the cam otherwise (or even get the timing cover off).

If I come up with any good ideas of how to actually do it, I'll let you know, as I'm contemplating adding EDIS to my megasquirt at the moment.... And if the wire in the dizzy that occasionally plays up completely dies, it'll be a sooner rather than later job

I left mine in place, but others have fixed it by machining the dizzy bit off leaving just the shaft.
Here's fridge's


My write up with electrical diagrams here http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=690068

Another good write up with pics and more of the mechanical installation herehttp://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=50799

[Loanrangie]

Buick 350 HEI, will drop straight in and no more ignition problems.

Have you done this or seen it done? I've heard it is not quite that straightforward...?

[chimpboy]

Great stuff guys.

I must admit I am starting to lean towards leaving the points in and later on biting the bullet and going for the megajolt set-up, so I wouldn't have to have a dizzy sticking up any more.

I am not sure I can do the buick/chev type thing as they look to be more bulky than the stock one. I would need to check carefully for clearance. Or am I wrong about the bulkiness?

[Loanrangie]

Great stuff guys.

I must admit I am starting to lean towards leaving the points in and later on biting the bullet and going for the megajolt set-up, so I wouldn't have to have a dizzy sticking up any more.

I am not sure I can do the buick/chev type thing as they look to be more bulky than the stock one. I would need to check carefully for clearance. Or am I wrong about the bulkiness?

They are bulky but you can fit a cap that uses a seperate coil thus making it lower than a standard dizzy just wider. Crank triggered EDIS would be ideal but you have to fab all the stuff yourself where as a HEI will drop straight in.

[chimpboy]

I did a bit of reading around megajolt and discovered that I have the only 5-bolt pulley the guys at triggerwheels have ever seen.



I also had to cut my own water pump gasket, as I couldn't find one and nor could anyone else. (The photo is an older one from when I was cleaning up the engine bay and had the rad out.)

I wonder what these bits are all from.

I've (probably) decided to keep the points for a while and do the whole megajolt job in one go later. Or possibly even go megasquirt for total engine management. But not for now, too much else to do.

My existing points dizzy is already touching the inlet manifold, there is simply no way known I can get anything wider on there unless the height is very different as well.

[chimpboy]

Well, with the dollar looking pretty good vs the UK pound, I bit the bullet and bought one of the electronic distributors mentioned right up the top, it is sort of a replica of a lucas 35DLM8. I did look for a buick one for a while but I could never find one that wasn't expensive.

I ended up hitting a few snags. I had to shift the alternator a bit so I would have room to adjust timing with the new distributor. I also had to mess around with my oil pump gears. It turns out that my timing case is Leyland P76, and hence the oil pump gears are slightly bigger (taller, that is) than Rover ones. In the end I drove the shaft out of a new Rover oil pump gear, and put it into my old P76 oil pump gear, to get the correct drive type and shaft length but retain the right gear size. There is probably a better solution for this P76/Rover compatiblity issue but I couldn't think of one.

That problem aside, the distributor seems pretty good. I haven't had a chance to test it to the hilt yet but (my frankenengine problems aside) it pretty much drops in and works.

I have to admit I would in some ways still rather have the megajolt but this was much less work (although more work than I was expecting thanks to the oil pump trouble).

Just thought I'd share.

[shakes]

good to see jas.

my 4.4 had the buick hei dizzy with no drama's.

From the little reading I've done the front of the motor can be a hybrid of a huge range of buick based motors as modern as some commodore 6's

[fe11xx]

You can buy a Davis "Unified Ignition Unit" too.. It is the same as a chevy HEI but I think it's a bit smaller.. drops in I have been told...?

[stuee]

Digging this post back up. Chimpboy, how did you go with the distributor from ebay? Is it still going strong? Is that type still available as the link goes to dead end.

I'm starting to get the motor ready to fire up on my 101 and am looking at what to do with the ignition. I know stuff all about points so am looking to drop in an electronic conversion, or a whole new dizzy.

[chimpboy]

Digging this post back up. Chimpboy, how did you go with the distributor from ebay? Is it still going strong? Is that type still available as the link goes to dead end.

I'm starting to get the motor ready to fire up on my 101 and am looking at what to do with the ignition. I know stuff all about points so am looking to drop in an electronic conversion, or a whole new dizzy.

The seller is "SimonBBC" or somesuch on ebay. http://www.simonbbc.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; or http://shop.ebay.com.au/simonbbc/m.html ... ksid=p3686" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I can't complain at all, it looks like a well made unit and fitted in. I had to fiddle around a bit due to the fact that my engine has (I know now) a few Leyland P76 bits on the front of it. It all runs fine and fired up first go so overall I am happy with it. I have not driven it much in anger yet though, it's the project/toy and it has been in the backseat with all the other stuff that's been going on.

[stuee]

Digging this post back up. Chimpboy, how did you go with the distributor from ebay? Is it still going strong? Is that type still available as the link goes to dead end.

I'm starting to get the motor ready to fire up on my 101 and am looking at what to do with the ignition. I know stuff all about points so am looking to drop in an electronic conversion, or a whole new dizzy.

The seller is "SimonBBC" or somesuch on ebay. http://www.simonbbc.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; or http://shop.ebay.com.au/simonbbc/m.html ... ksid=p3686" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I can't complain at all, it looks like a well made unit and fitted in. I had to fiddle around a bit due to the fact that my engine has (I know now) a few Leyland P76 bits on the front of it. It all runs fine and fired up first go so overall I am happy with it. I have not driven it much in anger yet though, it's the project/toy and it has been in the backseat with all the other stuff that's been going on.

I've seen them on ebay, they do a conversion kit very similar to PerTronix Ignitor kits. Seems a lot cheaper than PerTronix too ($50 delivered as opposed to approx $120 delivered, but PerTronix seem to be used everywhere). Not much technical info about their range, seem to be just a bare bones electronic conversion kit, no idea on what coils it is compatible with, other than the standard lucas jobies. Would be pretty much sold if I could use a standard coil like Bosch GT40R.

Also just seen if I get one of the distributors I will have to buy an ignition module too, where as a conversion kit is all within the one unit, and a whole lot cheaper to boot.

Cheers for the info, I will email them for more info about coil compatibility.

[stuee]

Just to update, I've decided to go the Pertronix kit. I cant find bugger all about the PowerSpark conversion (SimmonBBC) to make me feel comfortable, where as the ignitor kit from pertronix has been quite well proven while also being sold by the 101 club as a standalone conversion. Will be ordering from the US as the local supplier wants an extra 90% on what I can get it for online... Will be buying a new coil locally though. as most wont ship them or postage makes them uneconomical.

Supplier:
http://www.vintageperformance.com/retro ... /lucas.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Model LU-181

[chimpboy]

Just to update, I've decided to go the Pertronix kit. I cant find bugger all about the PowerSpark conversion (SimmonBBC) to make me feel comfortable, where as the ignitor kit from pertronix has been quite well proven while also being sold by the 101 club as a standalone conversion. 1

Good stuff, let us know how it goes.

On my distributor, the ignition module is a standard, generic sort of unit found on lots of modern cars. I just bought the coil that he supplies as well, so I didn't really think too much about what other coils will do. I considered pertronix but I keep seeing threads where people are having to pull it out and put the old parts back in to get their car running again! Then again, the same thing could well happen to me.

I actually bought a spare ignition module to keep in the glove box, but not from the same guy as he wanted too much for it (it's the same part or a suitable replacement though I think): http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/IGNITION ... 0526745723" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I think it's found on some Landrovers as well.