The Importance of Good Ignition

[chrisinoxford]

Just back from Stonleigh and had a nice day out got some important questions answered and picked up a few bits and pieces.

One of my missions was to investigate how important sparking the old girl was, following my post on here the other day, i know i had to find an 8v dizzy (to fit a 16v shaft)/ amplifier & coil.

H&H Ignition solutions had a unit for £190 which i would be happy to pay if i thought it was worth it?? any input here would be valuable.

The second thing i saw was this Spitfire multispark which the guy claimed was a godsend helps power 10% mpg efficiency etc etc, is this a gimmick or worth the £25?? again imput here would be valuable.......

He also tried to flog me Formula Power HT leads which are meant to be the bees knees.

So the bottom line is, a good dizzy/ amp & coil - top quality leads and plugs & the added benifit of this multispark unit-------------- will cost me a few extra pounds£££ but should i be paying are the benifits worth it Help please..........

Thanks.

Chris.

[Kevin Wood]

The various devices you can buy to improve the spark are snake oil IMHO. All they can do is to reduce the overall power of the spark. Splitting it into multiple sparks, for example, means each spark is weaker than the one that would have been delivered in one go. Also, once a spark is powerful enough to light the mixture it's as good is it's going to get.

Timing the spark is much more important. Mapped ignition systems will give you much better results than a mechanical distributor. Not sure what the 140 quid box would give you but for around that order of money you could go for a Megajolt which would be vastly superior to a dizzy.

Kevin

[tankerman24]

Hi, just to let you know I had a problem with the ignition system on my Westfield ( crossflow) I spoke to a lot of people who didn't inspire me with confidence, then a friend of mine with a Tiger said he had dealt with H+H ignition solutions and was really happy. so I phoned them and they really know their stuff, I sent them my dizzy which they rebuild with their electronics , and their coil pack,(turned around within the week) so simple to refit .  car fired first time, timed it up, been perfect ever since.. It cost me £125 including VAT and postage.

I was so happy with the service I made a point of finding them at the show and thanking them      

[chrisinoxford]

Kevin.

We are running twin webber 45's. I ssume the megajolt is an electronic system for injection? i may be wrong but possibly you can explain the Magajolt to me.

From the peope i have been speaking to there seems to be alot of enphasis on this part of the engine, good quality leads and plugs sounds a must (i assume i have to have a dizzy as i have carbs?)

Chris.

[Johnson]

Megajolt is ignition only,it uses EDIS (Ford ignition components) and a ECU which is mappable so you get a much better advance curve than you would with a normal distributor.

You either build the ECU yourself or buy a pre built unit and a few other bits from a crashed Mondeo/Escort etc and a triggerwheel(you might be able to use the original Vaux one?)

Loads of us on here have fitted them and everyone gives really good feedback about them.

It was a no brainer for me to change as working out costs for aftermarket ignition and its limitations of still having to use a distributor were not worth it.

Plus you can add shift lights   lol as standard.Datalogging is now a function as well as twin maps(cant see the need personally on a Westy).

Recent discussion with costs here

Megajolt homepage here

[chrisinoxford]

From what i see and this is no critisism as i am purely a newbie, but the cost of the bits for the megajolt are about the same as what i was offered by h&H for a dizzy/amp & coil £190.

so why is timing and mapping more advantagious for a megajolt over a sprked dizzy? no one has quite explained the fors and againsts in any forum. if i was looking for a smooth eco engine i would buy a bmw or something modern, as i am looking for raw unadulterated power i want my engine to be basic while doing the job hence a sexy set of webber 45's sparked by a dizzy that seems fine to me............. however i may be missing something and not picked up on it yet?

chris.

[Mark Stanton]

The second thing i saw was this Spitfire multispark which the guy claimed was a godsend helps power 10% mpg efficiency etc etc, is this a gimmick or worth the £25?? again imput here would be valuable.......

the plugs are as useful as a chocolate teapot    

[DavidR]

so why is timing and mapping more advantagious for a megajolt over a sprked dizzy? no one has quite explained the fors and againsts in any forum.

Using a standard distributor in a modified engine means that the advance curve may not be the one for best power / drivability. So even disregarding the different static timing settings that can be used it could have too much advance too soon or not enough but you won't know unless the car is tested on a rolling road (or similarly performance measured) and different settings tried.

To modify the distributor means taking it out every time you want to adjust it. The adjustments are to the bobweights and the springs, you have to find a range of springs that are suitable and decide whether to add weight or remove it from the bobweights. And every time you change you have to refit the distributor and reset the static timing. It takes about 10 or 12 hours to do and be sure its right (disregarding having access to all the parts and skill).

With Megajolt the timing profile can be set easily through a laptop computer and the static and dynamic settings changed without taking anything apart. Returning to an old map is straightforward and takes seconds. The mapping is flexible enough to allow the advance curve to be anything you want / need whereas a distributor relies on centrifugal force and bobweights with a fixed mass.

Megajolt takes a little skill and practice to understand but so does taking apart a distributor.

With Megajolt you can get the timing profile that suits your engine and is not a compromise setting to suit "most" or "modified" engines.

No connection to megajolt other than as a user.

David.

[chrisinoxford]

Mark, if you are referring to me the plug for *&* is unintensional guess its luck and free advertising for them but until yesterday at stonleigh i was in the dark in this area and they offered me a solution...............

David R, thanks for explanation its somewhat more clear now, are you saying then i will be able to get the max out of my performance tjrough the entire gear range with the megathingimebob???

[Johnson]

Thanks DavidR I saw Chris's reply earlier but didnt have a chance to reply(work getting in the way) but you have summed it up better than I probably could have   .

You may not get more power overall but the drivability will be much better as you will not have to compromise over the advance curve of a distributor(modified or not)

If yopu have better drivability then you should bet better performance.

You do seem to be getting hung up on "max power" though.In real life you wont be driving at ten tenths the whole time you need to look at the bigger picture.

Quoting BHP figures is ok for willy waving down the pub with your mates but it doesnt mean a lot if the car drives like a bag of pooh.

[Hammy]

Have a look ( at the rather quirky) Megajolt site

[url=http://www.autosportlabs.net/index.p....gajolt.

[chrisinoxford]

Johnson, thanks and well put!! i do want something that runs somewhat better than a bag of bolts, however some of us need every inch we can get in the willy waving stakes lol.................. will do my reasearch on the megamebob......................... thanks for all your help.........

[Jenko]

For what you want, it's'a no brainer....don't waste time on anything else, get yourself sorted with megajolt....It will give you exactly what you are after, a MUCH smoother running better throttle response, better reliability........

Just FYI, many people state it's an easy install, and fundementally it is...however, it is time consuming, and the set up will undoubtedly frustrate you at some point....but when up and running you will not be dissapointed.........

[Stevo]

I have an H&H dizzy, the company were just starting up at the time and they mapped the dizzy for my engine and state of tune and sent it to me foc - to try it out! It was a cinch to install which was a bonus as a newbie. I think I would have spat my dummy if I tried to install Megajolt.

Needless to say I was impressed and bought said unit.

...been thinking about megajolt recently though.

[Hammy]

Amplifying wot has been said here and elsewhere:

The big difference between your dizzy and megajolt is that the Dizzy only has a rpm based advance curve - i.e the advance increases with rpm .

As you have no vac advance fitted to your dizzy you will not get any extra part throttle advance (as crude as this is when fitted).  This is where the difference really shows, Megajolt will map in this extra load based advance via an input from the throttle position giving better economy, smoother runnig and much better throttle pickup- *No*  Dizzy can ever give you this feature however much it costs ............. All modern cars feature this "3D"  mapped ignition in one form or another and don't have distributors.

like Jenko, I'm a bit sold on this device; see aslo my WWW link below