TR6 Your experience with Luminition ignition

[gjh2007]

Thinking about replacing my points in my 6; what has your experience been? Did you go to a high output coil also?

Thanks

 

[mgedit]

Not used the Luminition system, but I switched to a Pertronix system 8-10 years ago and have been happy. Standard coil for me. Cheers, Mike

 

[TR3driver]

I've not tried Lumenition, but I have put down a whole bunch of miles with other units (Pertronix, Crane, MSD, Allison). My observations:

It's really nice to not have to change points & condenser all the time. But there are other details that still need to be attended to, like putting a few drops of oil under the rotor to lube the advance mechanism, which are much easier to overlook when you don't change points.

A "hotter" spark makes no practical difference once the engine is running (assuming everything else is in good condition). It's like lighting a bonfire, how big a match you use doesn't change the size of the fire. (Even "hotter" is a lie, if the spark happens at all, the spark is an intensely hot plasma. More current just makes a bigger plasma, not a hotter one.)

Higher output puts extra strain on other components, like the cap, rotor & wires. The MSD 6 I used to run on my TR3A ruined almost everything at least once; I actually had to modify the cap myself to keep it from burning out the suppression resistor in the center. On my Dodge Dart, it literally burned through the center tower, until the ruined wire fell out and the engine died. In the rain, of course, on the way to work. I just love showing up at work looking like a drowned rat (with dirty hands).

Electronic ignitions sometimes fail in weird ways. I had one that would quit working once per day, always while idling in traffic shortly after starting from cold. Usually the engine would restart immediately, sometimes it wouldn't, but it was always ready to start by the time I could push the car to the side and open the hood to troubleshoot. Had another that would only quit running when driving uphill on a hot day. Most recently, the Pertronix would only start the engine when I _wasn't_ running the starter. I could crank all day, but it wouldn't fire until I let off the button. Not really a failure as such, the real problem was a bad battery. But the Pertronix quit working entirely (due to low battery voltage) while the gear drive starter was still willing to crank the engine fairly briskly. With points, it fired right up even with the bad battery.

Last, I feel like an idiot sitting on the side of the road, swapping the "reliable" electronic ignition for "unreliable" points, so I can complete the trip. It's worse in the rain at night. Comparatively speaking and not counting periodic maintenance, I'd say points have been at least twice as reliable for me (in terms of always getting home without opening the hood) as electronic ignitions. And with points, a spare setup is free. (Just throw the ones you took out last time into the glove box.) A spare electronic pickup & module is both more expensive and more bulky.

 

[Darrell_Walker]

I had a Luminition system on my TR4A for many years. The main reason I went with it was I had pretty bad shaft wobble, and this was when new or rebuilt units just were not available (at least as far I was aware). My theory was that the blades and the optical sensor wouldn't be as sensitive to wobble. The only problem I ever had with it was when I accidentally broke off one of the vanes on the chopper unit. I did order a new one, but in the meantime I epoxied the broken one back together, and never did swap the new one in.