Timing

[Neil Clark]

Is the simple method (light bulb connected to coil and negative) effective or do I need a strobe?

[Clive]

bulb to get it roughly right, if you must. But your ears are the best tool. Set the timing, drive, keep advnacing until it pinks. Back it off a smidge

[johny]

Also not sure if the bulb method works with all types of electronic ignition if you have one fitted....

[Pete Lewis]

small bulkb normally works fine with electronic points  samas mechanical points 

but only to set the static  not the running  the bulb is too slow and too dim to work at idle 

ears are most useful 

 

Pete

[johny]

This comes from the Accuspark instructions for fitting one of their units:

5. Starting the car Attempt to start car, in most cases the car will start. In some cases, the distributor will have to be turned a few degrees in each direction, continue until car starts and best idle can be achieved. Then the engine can be timed with a strobe. PLEASE NOTE: It is not possible to set timing statically with a bulb, a strobe lamp must be used

[Pete Lewis]

i set an accuspark with a bulb last week to 10deg (because there were  some basic problems with a mares nest of wiring and a ballasted 3 ohm coil just giving a weak spark 

then when all up and running  checked with a strobe it was spot on 

this was abrand new dizzy from AS 

Pete

 

 

 

[Colin Lindsay]

3 hours ago, clive said:

bulb to get it roughly right, if you must. But your ears are the best tool. Set the timing, drive, keep advnacing until it pinks. Back it off a smidge

If starting from scratch you can also crank the engine whilst rotating the dizzy slowly; the engine will start once you get to roughly the correct setting, then just fine tune by ear.

[johny]

1 hour ago, Pete Lewis said:

i set an accuspark with a bulb last week to 10deg (because there were  some basic problems with a mares nest of wiring and a ballasted 3 ohm coil just giving a weak spark 

then when all up and running  checked with a strobe it was spot on 

this was abrand new dizzy from AS 

Pete

Strange, I couldnt do it because the Accuspark unit didnt seem to operate at hand turning speeds and of course just pulses when operated by the magnet unlike points which can be held open indefinitely by the cam. Then I looked on their site and found the warning which I assume might also apply to most electronic points free systems although possibly not Optronic? 

[NonMember]

It depends on the EI unit. Optronic ones normally work with the bulb, unless they're "too smart". Magnetic ones that use a Hall sensor will also work unless "too smart". VR sensors don't work when static, so that type of magnetic pickup won't work the bulb.

The "too smart" thing is that some fancy EI units have active dwell control, which allows the use of high energy coils. Those won't ever produce more than a brief pulse, so the light won't work.

[dougbgt6]

4 hours ago, clive said:

Set the timing, drive, keep advnacing until it pinks. Back it off a smidge

To put it another way, rotate the dizzy until you reach the plateau, that is, it doesn't rev any higher, back it off, take it for a drive, if it pinks back it off a bit more. You can also do it by vacuum which is essentially the same thing. rotate for maximum vacuum and back off one bar.

Doug

[johny]

15 minutes ago, NonMember said:

It depends on the EI unit. Optronic ones normally work with the bulb, unless they're "too smart". Magnetic ones that use a Hall sensor will also work unless "too smart". VR sensors don't work when static, so that type of magnetic pickup won't work the bulb.

The "too smart" thing is that some fancy EI units have active dwell control, which allows the use of high energy coils. Those won't ever produce more than a brief pulse, so the light won't work.

That makes sense, thanks. The current Accuspark unit says its microprocessor controlled to give variable dwell time...

[Neil Clark]

Thank you all.  The car came with an old style but fairly new mechanical points type.

[Neil Clark]

I have the £40.00 Accuspark electronic "points" in my MGB GT.  So easy to instal and set up but I was disappointed with the first one failing after not so many miles.

[Iain T]

1 hour ago, Neil Clark said:

So easy to instal and set up but I was disappointed with the first one failing after not so many miles.

Neil, if you can dig deeper and buy a Pertronix unit they are very reliable but cost more! I have the Ignitor 2 in my Vitesse. 

Iain

[johny]

4 hours ago, Neil Clark said:

I have the £40.00 Accuspark electronic "points" in my MGB GT.  So easy to instal and set up but I was disappointed with the first one failing after not so many miles.

Im beginning to wonder if for temperature reasons it isnt best to have the electronics outside the distributor like the first generation.... 

[Badwolf]

I am upset that my old Sparkrite sx1000 is a bit flaky. I keep meaning to drill out the rivets and look inside to see if anything can be replaced. Still works fine on conventional setting but on electronic it has developed an occasional miss. Tried the modern sx4000 which I documented on my restoration thread. Gave up with them after two duff units. I still have a third somewhere, may try it sometime but lost faith in them (marketed by Acuspark)

[Neil Clark]

23 minutes ago, johny said:

m beginning to wonder if for temperature reasons it isnt best to have the electronics outside the distributor like the first generation.... 

The second unit has lasted much better.  They provide a grease (I think it's for heat issues) which they say should be applied all over the base plate.  When I got the first one someone told me not to worry about that, just put a bit of thin oil which I did but it didn't last that long.

[johny]

yes the thermal paste is essential for cooling but perhaps under bonnet temperatures are also a factor... Then of course the backplate where the unit mounts in the dizzy must be earthed well as thats the return path for both the coil and electronics.

[Neil Clark]

I tried turning the distributor minutely anti- and clockwise and could feel the difference, both directions, but never got a fully satisfactory result.  I think that needs setting properly first so that the Weber carb the PO fitted can be fine adjusted as well.  I did take the car for a run but while doing that the core plug decided that it really has had enough and the leakage rate increased a lot, so I think I'll leave timing and carb fine tuning until that is fixed.