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A very strange question about testing ignition timing


Unclejake

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^ No. I still need a rev counter.

BUT!...I used it for the purpose it was designed for tonight (checking the race ignition system) and I have found an error in the car. The rev counter will not operate. I am perplexed and off to the MSD website shortly to try to establish where I went wrong.

I also had a topper and ate it all by myself without needing to call Gaz.

Lubs yew.

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^Mean (with a silent A).

Heck. Me = have just spent about an hour trawling through MSD diagrams and the tech chat room thing and it doesn't look like I have done anything wrong. I may have a faulty part (although I doubt it being MSD gear and all).

I must say - MSDs web based instructions are pretty bloody good........ except for telling me how to wire the tacho with a 8950, a 8980 and a 6AL

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Guest vvega

agreed while it is fantastically coool UJ

it so needs some danger to finish it up

perhaps you could bring it up we could reattach the blade and do the test under our jacked up mobile crane

crain.jpg

as seen here :D

i think that would have all the aspects of a truly homemade device

that unit just looks to professional :D

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here is a picture of a 30 tonne unit that a sprinkle of gravel may or may not prevent from sinking unevenly into the wet mud that lies beneath the gravel, toppling over and killing pretty much most of Hamilton very quietly
. Fuck that.
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Guest vvega
here is a picture of a 30 tonne unit that a sprinkle of gravel may or may not prevent from sinking unevenly into the wet mud that lies beneath the gravel, toppling over and killing pretty much most of Hamilton very quietly
. Fuck that.

that only funny cause it is sinking...the boys better hurrry up and get those rams sorted....lol

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  • 4 weeks later...

Heck. I have been busy in other areas of my life for the past month or so and only got back to the time machine today.

Results are consistently inconclusive. At certain revs the advance/retard behaves as it should. At medium revs (5,000 or so) it is fucked up and then over 8,000rpm things start looking right but do not change if the high RPM retard module is engaged.

I am not making much sense I know but at the end of the night I suspect my rotor phasing is out.

Tomorrow I dril a big hole in the dizzy cap and will check the rotor phasing. Let's hope that is the last hrudle and it is wrong. If it isn't wrong I give up and will by a rotary (but only an imperial one)

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^ I am pretty certain the brand is Optilux and it is a non adjustable light.

I was using my adjustable light that you see in the photos but it didn't seem to like the MSD.

I will eliminated rotor phase as a fuck up on Monday night and reprt back. I am suspicious that I can not use electronic timing control on a dizzy designed for centrifugal advance as the rotor may well be just too small.

We will see tomorrow. Now I eat lamb shanks!!!!

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Edit: All the below tests were done using a stardard coil and no electronic retard or advance modules.

No camera at the Workshop tonight sorry - but I drilled a hole in the top of the dizzy cap and found that (as I suspected) the rotor phasing was miles out (using the timing light to observe the rotor in relation to the spark plug terminal post).

I adjusted it to within a few degrees of what looks perfect and I now have a fantastic steady ignition pluse at all RPM................. almost!

The distributor uses a soft iron reluctor and when I have it phased correctly according to the timing light(through the top of the dizzy cap) the actual spark happens about half way up the reluctor 'ramp'. I need to get a photo to explain it.

The ramp surprise does not bother me but what does bother me is that the supposedly pinned/locked dizzy is showing near to 10 degrees of retard between an estimated 2,000 - 5,000 'engine' RPM.

I have not pulled the dizzy down again yet (a mate pinned it) but I doubt the advertised retard is mechanical. I suspect it has to do with reluctor speed.

I will try to get some photos tomorrow. This is a bit out of my field of knowledge (bloody metric distributors) - Oh BTW the dizzy is out of a Subaru Legacy and I believe is designed to run anti-clockwise as does the Cortina timing

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sounds like teh gain is to high for the reluctor

ethier turn down teh gain or open up the air gap so the gap that is currenly at the trigger point is whats at the end of the ramp..if that makes sence

:D

BTW how were the lamb shanks

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