I wish to convert my 78' Mini to electronic ignition. What would the good folks on here recommend as the best set up?

Currently my Mini has an 1100cc engine, which I've been told has been bored to its maximum!m I intend to build up a 1275 engine I have sat around in the garage so would like something I can fit to my current engine and transfer across if I ever get around to the 1275 rebuild project!

Cheers

I ran a Nissan Pulsar dizzy with modified advance curve for years and it was good.
I now run a Lucas 43D with the advance locked, an electronic kit and an Accuspark Stealth black box module for programmable advance.
With the same ignition map as the Pulsar produced, and a bit of fiddling of the curve since, it works even better.

The electronic kit was about $60 landed,
http://www.simonbbc.com/electronic-igni ... butor-mini

The Accuspark was $190 + postage from Victoria, cheaper than getting from UK.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Stealth-Blac ... 1286055616

See the Accuspark ausmini thread here-
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=83483

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Cheers,

I've been looking at the Accuspark system great to have some feedback on it

I like the megajolt personally. Have seen it and gone for a ride in a mini that has it fitted and I have it fitted in my old toyota ute. Good system and you can totally remove the distributor altogether.

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"In two years time your car will be like a lady's clothes, out of date, my car will still be in fashion when I am dead" - Sir Alec speaking to Pininfarina

I'm looking at three options, cheap, middle & top of the range. I don't mind spending top dollar if it's worth it but no point buying more than I need! It's for a 1275 thats been bored .060 with a mild cam and twin SU's no real high HP mods just a nice strong reliable motor.


Option one - Powerspark package with coil and leads $200 delivered:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/360661531119

Option two - Accu-spark Stealth $300. I do like this option and as good as Accu-spark have been I ordered a timing light from them in January this year and they have sent it three times only for it to return to them as they can't seem to get my address correct!

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/171026766104

Option three - DISTRIBUTOR 123 ELECTRONIC IGNITION WITH VAC $500

http://www.minispares.com/product/Classic/Electrics/Ignition/Electronic/C-27H7771.aspx?090803&ReturnUrl=/shop/classic/Electrics/Ignition/Electronic.aspx%7CBack%2520to%2520shop

All comments, suggestions welcome

out of the 3 options marty as your engine builder I recommend the black box for its infinite adjustability. but on the other hand if it is useless unless you get the engine professionally tuned.

i haven't used the black box or the 123 so cant comment on their usability or quality but1 have heard good things about both.

for your motor we are building as a very mild 1275 built for reliability over performance maybe the power spark option is the best..

my engine is running with the std dizzy and a electronic ign module flawlesly and i think with the ability of being able to play with all the extra adjustability of the 123 or blackbox things could get a lot worse than better..

hope this helps...

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The best part of fixing your mini is the test drive

Minis..

1976 van daily drive
1975 van
1968 deluxe in the shed
1967 deluxe high strung 1310
1959 austin healey sprite

I have seen a few motors now with these new cheapo chinese made dizzies, various brands including Pertronix.
All had way too much centrifugal advance, a recent one advanced all the way to 6300rpm! HP was OK but low and midrange torque suffered.
The usual modded Mini engine likes around 30deg total centrifugal advance, all in by 3500rpm or sooner.

re the 123, unless new ones are programmable? you are buying a dizzy hoping one of the curves in it suits your motor.
Expensive too.

Accuspark stealth module is the next best thing to a Megajolt, IMO, and easier to set up, on any engine with a dizzy.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

I fitted Lumention kits into two of my Cooper S distributors back in the late '80s and got them recurved and they ran for many years without any problems.

More recently I got Performance Ignitions in Melbourne to do a custom Scorcher dissy for my S using Bosch parts mostly. I have fitted Scorchers in both my Rover V8 engines as well (in place of the OEM Lucas electronic dissys) and haven't needed to touch them in years. Low tech by today's standards, I know, but relatively bulletproof and simple and cheap to fix if anything ever does go wrong.

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Slide
1965 Mini Van (1360)
1970 Mk2 Cooper S (1310)
1978 Rover SD1 V8 (4.6)
1996 Land Rover Discovery V8 (4.0)

The MegaJolted Mini 1018cc knows went through a big puddle tonight. Water all over the bonnet, but the engine ran beautifully...

Cost me less than $500 to MegaJolt the car, inclusive. Can't see the value in going 123, unless you want the relatively look of originality given by having a dizzy in the car. In fact, from memory, it didn't cost me that much more than the Accu-spark...

1018cc knows the way I work, he'll attest that if I can MegaJolt my car, the odds are huge that you can do the same to yours. The toughest parts were removing the radiator (my radiator's stupidly tight fitting), and undoing the crank pulley bolt (my crank pulley bolt was so overtorqued that the crank actually started to cut a new thread into the bolt!). It wasn't hard to set up. We fired it up with a map set to run 5º of advance with -5º of correction, to confirm that 0º was accurate (i.e. the trigger wasn't offset somehow), then loaded up the program I wanted...

And, my plugs were fouling at 0.025" before, now they run clean and white porcelain at 0.042" gap. Can't beat that!

Get a module from Tony (convertiblemini on here) and add the Accuspark.

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the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
66 Mini Minor sponsored by http://www.lifeonthehedge.com.au/ The Dog Harness Specialists
It was a pleasure ausmini. I'll miss all you misfits and reprobates

I just did the run from Cowan out to Rylestone and back with 40? or so other Minis. The Accuspark black box performed perfectly, the motor is smoother at all rpm and it uses less fuel than usual too.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

I'm very late in replying so you may have already made your decision on this. Hopefully this info is useful for somebody.

Whatever ignition system you go for - if it's not matched to your engine characteristics then it will suck no matter how much money you spend.
-You may be surprised at how little a "high end " system may cost you - particularly if you are happy to do some of the hard graft yourself.

Professional setup is obviously the best, but at a pinch you can start with a baseline of MAPPING your current distributor curve and reverse engineering this curve onto your new system and tweaking from there.
-David Vizards book has sensible suggestions on tweaks to ignition curves based on engine characteristics.
-You can then fine tune with a friend in the passenger seat after doing some test runs on a "real rolling road" (the freeway at a quiet time of night)..
- End of the day it's your engine and your call....

I'd also strongly recommend having some form of vacuum advance on whichever system you use. . Going for something that doesn't have vac advance is just a waste of fuel. There is no downside to vac advance as far as i can see. You still get wide open throttle max power curves as per non vac advance "racing distributors" systems but the added benefit of economy when you don't have the foot buried in the floor.

Distributor based options:

- I ran my current mini from 1993 until early 2014 on a re-curved Bosch distributor body (from a bluebird) grafted onto a lucas shaft. This was made by Ingition Developments (Melbourne) for me in 1992. This worked very well for many years (was a great system!) but as it's mechanically based. Thus with wear over the years the points scatter (particularly at higher revs) seemed to get worse and worse.
- Any electronic distributor based system is likely going to be an improvement on the old Lucas distributor -particularly a worn out one. However, how MUCH of an improvement is the question....Keep in mind that i found there to be more inaccuracies introduced into the ignition curve from MECHANICAL slop in 1. camchain wear, 2. distributor gear wear (dizzy and camshaft lobes) , 3. distributor shaft wear than any issues to do with mechanical POINTS.
I guess my point is..... if you are going for the ultimate in accuracy for an ignition system (so that you can then extract maximum advance) and a high energy system to boot...... then you CANNOT beat a distributor-LESS ignition system.


123...
If you are going down the 123 path - BE CAREFUL of the suggested ignition curves. I found them to be VERY aggressive when I emulated these curves on my electronic ignition system (even taking into account I was running a high energy coil pack system and knocking off a few degrees to compensate for this!).

Non distributor based options

Megajolt....
I personally use a Megajolt system on my 998 mini and I have been thrilled with the results. It's been on the car since early this year and has performed faultlessly.
-I reversed engineered the ignition curve i had on my distributor (used a timing light and worked my way through the rev range without vac advance connected) and tweaked the curve from there.
-I can even adjust it on the road with a friend in the passenger seat with a laptop whilst driving it.
- The diagnostic / logging capabilities are good with the included software. so you can drive it round and RECORD vac advance, total advance, engine rpm , load (vacum) to analyze later and see if it's behaving funny in any way (very handy for getting the vac advance right at low rpm and at partial throttle settings)
- IMPORTANTLY it is super accurate because it is timed off the CRANK and thus there is NO mechanical slop in the system (cam chain etc are NOT a factor)
- it runs a high energy coil pack and thus you can open up the spark plug gaps much wider (eg like modern cars) and you will be amazed at the improvement in idle and cold starting
- my distributor is still in place and the old coil is in the boot. should my system ever fail i can revert back to the old system in less than 15 minutes on the side of the road.


Note: reverse engineering the old curve with a timing light really showed my how bad the points scatter was with a distributor based system ( i admit it was a worn system) particularly at high revs with around 8 degrees of inaccuracy at higher rpm (with vac disconnected of course). When i do the same with the megajolt system - it's bang on accurate even at 5500+rpm.

My megajolt system owes me no more than $450 - i did all the work on it myself and it was not difficult. I used a Hyundai coil pack, second hand EDIS unit from ebay (i bought 2 to keep a spare) and got the Megajolt online, and the VR sensor and trigger wheel from Ben on this forum. I also use a computer CPU heat sink on the back of the EDIS unit to keep it cool. Probably overkill but it works.

You need very little computer skills to get this system up and running.

Megasquirt.....
My latest car project is not a mini but rather a fuel pig of a landcruiser (4.2 liter straight 6)... but it has a distributor system currently and runs dual fuel. I'm planning to use the megasquirt for this rather than a megajolt as I can:
- do it cheaper than the megajolt system (if i go the built it from a kit option)
- not need an EDIS unit which have to be bought from outside of Australia. (as it has it's own coil drivers)
- can use a hall effect sensor rather than only a VR sensor for trigger system (considered to be better)
- don't have to use a trigger wheel (can machine the flywheel instead)
- can add in fuel injection and o2 sensor capabilities later if required .

Megasquirt looks to be a great solution HOWEVER will require more advanced computer skills than the more plug and play megajolt solution. I work in IT so that's not a drama for me but may be a barrier for some.

All good points there Nickj, I agree with it.

One point re my Accuspark posts above- I run a timing belt kit on my car, this got rid of 99% of the spark scatter usually seen with a timing chain. There are some very good belt kits about now, with a tensioner roller too.

http://www.med-engineering.co.uk/catalo ... belt-drive

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Hadn't considered that DrMini.

A timing belt vs a timing chain is a good solution to solve that problem.

cheers

Nick