Pointless !

[Neal Colingham]

I need the collective braintrust to tell me what
breakerless ignition system is the best value
cost/reliability for my 76 2.0. The car is stock
with dual webers and a new bursch exahust.

[Ian_G]

Buy the Allison/Crane kit, it's very nice and allows a nice big coil. The install is also a nobrainer.

Most places want ~$100 for this. I cross referenced numbers with Crane and found out that the 12v bug kit JC Whitney sells is the same kit. It's a universal kit in fact! Also cost $84 with shipping.

Good Luck

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

The Pertronix is the least expensive generally, and works fine. It uses a "Hall effect" magnetic sensor, and is supposedly a little more sensitive to up-and-down play than the optical (Crane Cams) system. However, on the Rennlist we have had reports recently of several relatively-new Pertronix gizmos failing. They may be having problems with their QC.

I have heard that the "Compufire" brand is more or less the same as the Pertronix, but without the problems. No idea on the price.

The Crane Cams optical gizmo is supposed to be the best-quality one, but is generally more expensive than the Pertronix and probably the Compufire as well.

--DD

[oredith]

I've had both the pertronix and the crane ignition. I'd say the crane is a tiny bit better in terms of performance, but go back two weeks to on post on "pertronix - random ranting". Mine failed on me after 5 months of usage.. the GLUE came apart.. your results may vary. the pertronix unit is about half the price as the crane (i got the xr-3000 instead of 700), like i said, i didn't notice much performance difference, but after my personal experience with the glue, i would stay away from pertronix.

now.. Ian, tell me about this "big coil".. i've still got the stock bosch coil.. is there a upgrade in the future?.. what are the advantages?

Jeff

[This message has been edited by oredith (edited 09-29-1999).]

[John Rogers]

I use Pertronix in the nearly stock 1974 with Blue coil, etc. Works fine. I use a CompuFire unit in the race car with MSD-6 ignition and their off road coil and 8.5 mm wires. The spark is so strong you can hear the plugs fire as the engine cranks. I also have carbs and they are purposly set rich so the hot system helps with cleaner running. The CompuFire conversion for the 009 distributor was about half the cost of the Pertronix unit and works exactly the same. The Pertronix has about 6 months on it, the CompuFire has about 6 hrs of full throttle use. The Compufire is a molded assembly, no glue or anything like that and they are right up the road in Poway CA from me.

[Alpine]

John,

Can you please give me some more information about the Compufire unit? I haven't seen it in any of the catalogs. Is it just like the Pertronix in that it fits inside the distributor and replaces the points and condensor or is there a black box and other hardware associated with it? Have you had any problems with it? Did it come with a warranty? How much did you pay for it? Sorry to ask so many questions but I will be doing an ignition upgrade soon and I would like to know what my options are.

Thanks,
Alpine

[7391417]

I installed the compufire unit in my 73 1.7
The engine instantly ran smoother and much better. It cost about sixty dollars and drops right in. I couldn't be happier, except for the fact that I am now having problems with my FI.

[Ian_G]

BIG COIL: 60,000volt coil

Average Bosch Blue ~45,000volt

Because of the transistor in the Crane ignition you can go up on the ole coil voltage. So I picked a 60Kv and over gapped the plugs some. Result: starts with a blip, when all injectors are fine (my current prob injector #4 dead). Really a bigger coil simply has more reserve for high voltage sparking at high rpms, read harder to desaturate the coil.

In my BMW this is a problem with 6cyl and turning 9K at times (modified 535is). The 914, well a 4cyl at 5K won't desaturate a Bosch Blue easily, so if you've got this then stick with it. I just happened to have an extra 60Kvolt coil laying around from an old bimmer of mine.

Ian

[John Rogers]

I bought the CompuFire unit at a VW parts shop that sells to the 1600cc racer crowd. It was about $29 or so. Their web site is http://compufire.com/ and they have good tech support.

[Neal Colingham]

Thanks for all the input, when installing
the the units can it be done with the distributor in the car ?.Also the CompuFire
web page seems to missing some info, their
auto application page is under construction
so I don't know what ignition to purchase.
Any info on models ?.

[John Rogers]

I think they have 2 Compufire versions that will work on the 914s, one for 009 distributors and one for stock FI distributors. I did install mine without removing the distributors, but I had to adjust the timming slightly due to the change in dwell in going from points to breakerless.

[Ian_G]

Yes,

I installed the Allison/Crane unit with the dizzy in the car. However after rebuilding the thing hell just yank the thing, or remove the engine lid. . .

Ian

[JP Noonan]

True, the dizzy is pretty easy to pull out, but there are two ways, one better than the other.

One way is to loosen the 10mm clamping nut (the long 1.5" nut) and pull the dizzy. Problem is that you loose all reference as to the timing when you reinstall.

The better way is to loosen the 13mm nut and washer that hold the clamp to the block. It is much harder to get to (hard to even see because it is under the vacuumm canister) but it won't change your timing much at all. The easiest way to get to it is to use a 13mm "stubby" wrench. It can be done with a standard length wrench, just takes longer.

Also be VERY careful when pulling the dizzy. All kinds of crap sits around the hole just waiting to fall in. If possible use some compressed air to blow the area clean before pulling the dizzy.

[Alpine]

There are two Compufire products featured on this page:
http://www.gex.com/07tkopts.htm

The Compufire Module Points are about $70.00 however.

Alpine