allison crane ignition installation help?..

I've got a Allison Crane Optical Ignition Unit sitting in the garage, but i'm missing the instruction booklet. I've asked Wayne and Tom at Pelican, but apparently the part is no longer being made, and so.. no booklet.
anyone with a scanner and the installation booklet out there?..

thanks in advance

[JP Noonan]

Try this link
www.cranecams.com/ignition1/wiredia1.htm

Or just go the the main site and click on "fireball ignitions" then "ignitions catalog"

There site really helped me when a friend (who says I never gave it to him, but anyway) lost the instructions to my HI-6 CDI unit.

BTW about the CDI unit, the car (75 2.0 with stock points) seems to run and rev much smoother. Once I bumped the timing back up it even seemed to have more power. When you put the CDI on it lowers the timing for some reason.

thanks JP, the site was very helpful. I've got a follow-up question though. Given what you said in the last line, do you think it's better or worse to install the CDI unit?..

Open question:
what's everyone's experience with electronic ignition? (specifically the crane unit?)

[MJHanna]

I run a MSD ignition both the distributor and MSD 6AL, plus their wires. After running it for over 7 years I would never go back to stock. I run Carbs, if you have FI the distributor will be a problem.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Electronic Ignition good.

I bought an Allison optically-triggered ignition a couple of years ago at a swap meet. Crane bought out the Allison design quite a few years back, so that tells you it's pretty old!

The one I bought was set up for a 6-cylinder. About $10 in parts later (the disk with the slots), it was a 4-cylinder one.

I've been running it for two years with absolutely ZERO problems. I've suspected it twice and reinstalled the points, and was wrong on both occasions.

There are claims for easier starting, smoother idle, more power. I have not experienced any of those that were noticeable, except as in improvement to burned and pitted points.

What I *have* noticed is that I no longer have to keep messing with my ignition. The timing is always dead-on. No more points to burn (I was burning them every few hundred miles for a while), no more wear that changes the timing and dwell, no more problems PERIOD. And no more taking the distributor halfway apart to make an adjustment that I can't even feel changed anything, putting it all back together, then having the meter tell me I over-adjusted it. (Ick!!!!)

AFAIK, the points in the 914's ignition work just fine for the rev range the engine was designed for. No floating or bouncing up until red-line, idle is OK, and all of that. With relatively new points, at least. But the electronic ignition gizmos simply never ever go out of adjustment. Well worth the $45 I spent at the swap meet, and well worth the $65 or so for the Pertronix (more for the Crane) for a new one.

--DD