distributor To EI or not

[JOHN COOKSON]

Renegade
It also depends on how much you use your engine. I have a look see inside my distributor cap every 6 months or so. After awhile you will get a feel for how the cap is aging and how often you need to change it on your boat and for your particular engine and engine usage. It seems to me that the rotor burns faster than the cap. Like DN I get 4-5 years out of my cap. I change it out when it starts looking a bit raunchy. Better to err on the safe side than have engine not start when the chips are down. I probably shouldn't do it but I lightly sand the rotor and contacts inside the distributor cap. But every spark plug does fire.Be sure to also check the towers on the top of the distributor cap. Even with tight fitting boots some how moisture can get in and cause corrosion. If not to badly corroded a piece of sandpaper around a pencil will freshen them up. I also slightly spring the contact on the end on the wire open slightly to be sure the spark plug wire is making good contact.

Only use distributor caps with copper contacts. Stay away from the cheap ones, found in "boutique" auto parts stores, with the aluminum(?) contacts.

TRUE GRIT

[BadaBing]

btw.
I have, or am in the process of going EI. Finished my carb resurection yeasterday and hope to install the carb and distributer with EI tomorow (rain in the forcast, a good rainy day project)

[hanleyclifford]

Good plan. Even with EI it is a good idea to check the dwell with a meter (cheap at the auto boutique or Walmart) just to make sure it's doing the job. Don't forget to check voltage at coil+ and "resist" appropriately.

[BadaBing]

Good plan. Even with EI it is a good idea to check the dwell with a meter (cheap at the auto boutique or Walmart) just to make sure it's doing the job. Don't forget to check voltage at coil+ and "resist" appropriately.

Last year I purchased the recommended coil from MM and put it in my spare parts box. An extra coil, imo, is a must have spare part aboard. When I turn the key for the first start thisnseason the MM coil, which is supposed to have the correct resistance, will be installed and my present coil will take its place in the back up parts drawer.

[ndutton]

MMI coil or not, it is prudent to make a complete EI system analysis. Measure the coil resistance between the two small posts, measure the voltage between the small coil + post and the engine block (edit: with the engine running at a little more than 1000 RPM), divide the resistance into the voltage to confirm the quotient is below 4.0. Or use the calculator found here.

You can check the dwell of the EI if you want but there's nothing you can do about it short of wholesale replacement. If you decide to measure it anyway, it helps to know what dwell to expect with EI, way more than the A-4 specification for points (edit: like in the neighborhood of 60°) so don't be alarmed.

[hanleyclifford]

Last year I purchased the recommended coil from MM and put it in my spare parts box. An extra coil, imo, is a must have spare part aboard. When I turn the key for the first start thisnseason the MM coil, which is supposed to have the correct resistance, will be installed and my present coil will take its place in the back up parts drawer.

Good idea to have spare coil on board. Any "12" volt coil can be used with the A4, even with EI, if you have sufficient resistance in front of coil + to protect it from big alternator voltages and, as Neil mentioned, dwell as high as 60 degrees. For this reason you should have an assortment of resistors in your spares locker. They are fairly cheap and give you flexibility if you have to make a change on the road. I like to monitor both voltage and amperage at coil +. The ammeter you see cost 4 bucks + shipping.

[BadaBing]

I want to update this project as well
As stated above I was toying with switching over to EI, which I did.
During my decision process I was advised that "unless the cam lobes are actually worn down, seriously worn down, there would be no real benefit in performance" not an exact quote .

Actually I found that along with ending the point adjustment,my a4 runs Much Better. As a qualifier I must add that so also rejected my c rv but that is another thread.

Switching to EI would be at the top of my list of suggestions s tions to all looking for improved A4 performamce

[offtosea]

EI atomic 4

I have previously mentioned my wish and intention to upgrade (?) My ignition system to electronic ignition. My reasoning being that " newer is better" After exchanging ideas online with some.of you and talking to Mr Moyer I have put this off over the past couple of years because my distributed cam lobes seem ok and changing points every year, if necessary, is not a big deal.

We put the boat on the hard this winter so we could have our bulkhead repaired, hurricane Sandy almost did it it. This was a big expense that we had to just suck.up.

For something to do I removed the carb and distributor and brought them home to my work bench to spiffy them up, and reinstall in the spring. Thinking again of the EI option.

A careful examination of distributor cam shows no visible sign, that I can see, of the cams being worn down. I would guess that IF there was wear that it would be inconsistent up and down, as the contact for the.points is smaller than the cam itself, and possible inconsistent from lobe to lobe. So my first question.
Other than a visual inspection are there any published numbers or measurements that could.be used to determine the condition of the cam lobes?

It sounds to me that the downside of worn cam lobes is the altering of the dwell. Honestly I have never checked my dwell just setting the point gap and adjusting the timing by ear as per the MM manual has always seemed very adaquet. The winter days give me to much time to dwell on things like dwell, so I am wondering about the effects of dwell on an engine performance.

It seems to me that it is.possible to have point gap adjusted properly and to still have the dwell out of wack.

Reliability s.#1 for me, performance a close second (more hand in hand) what effect does dwell have ? Please feel free to just point me at an existing thread.

Along the same thinking I found my centrifugal advance weights very rusty and very possibly not advancing as freely as they should. I took it all apart, polished the weights and oiled them up. How much advance should the A4 realize as the rpms go up?
Bill

Hello,i am looking to replace the points with EI,what is needed to do this ,and are there any saftey issues,or just advantages?

[Dave Neptune]

Offtosea, just advantages. Be sure and use the correct coil and other than that all you will need to do is lube the advance once a year and change the cap & rotor every 4~5 hundred hours IF NECESSARY.

Dave Neptune