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Electronic Ignition

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Jeff B

Freshman Member
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Hopefully I'm not asking a really easy question, but I was wondering anyone could explain the advantage of an electronic ignition. If anyone know any web links to this information that would be great.

Thanks,
Jeff
 
Hi Jeff - I had my B converted to electronic ignition about a year ago. It has 108,000 miles on it and the engine and trans. have never been out of the car. The distributor is worn and was impossible to set the timing on. I had the folks at my MG parts supplier / mechanic shop take a look at it and they recommended converting it over to electronic. It was 89.00 plus tax and about 15 min. of labor. The advantage they explained was that with electronic the timing is far easier to set and it will hold in time, regardless of rpm. They said on a worn distributor you could set the timing at a low rpm but it would be off at the top rpms. They put in a Pertronix unit. it is concealed within the distributor cap with only 2 wires going over to the coil. The downside is if it goes out- you are stuck unless you have a spare - good to keep in mind if you travel very far. I can report that my car has run flawlessly since conversion. Hope this helps - I hope I have interpretted their interpretation well enough for you.

good luck

lyle
 
one other advantage of electronic conversion - the cost of a new distributor was considerably higher

lyle
 
I've got a Pertronix unit fitted to my Spit, and it works great. Problem with points are, that right off the bat, the gap starts changing with wear. And getting good quality points that can be gapped properly is getting more difficult.
They also tend to misfire at high rpms.
There's also more spark from a electronic unit which means more complete mixture burn, ie, more power, better emisions. The Pert. unit definitely helped in getting my car through emissions testing.Ron

'78 Spit

Vancouver B.C.
 
A Word of caution. The little screw that holds the pentronics unit down came loose and it took me a while to find out that was the cause of my problem.
Other than that I have had it installed for 4 years now and love it.
 
A Word of caution. The little screw that holds the pentronics unit down came loose and it took me a while to find out that was the cause of my problem.
Other than that I have had it installed for 4 years now and love it.
 
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