Electronic ignition conversions???

[MarkAllan]

I hear some people talking about converting there Atomic 4 to electronic ignition. I cannot find anything about that here can someone direct me to some information about this please.

[Dave Neptune]

Our host sell a Pertronics unit that is very good and Indigo also offer a good one of a different style. The Pertronics is a magnetic (hall effect) switch and the Indigo is a photo optic switch. Both are good.
If you do switch which I always encourage do pay attention to getting the proper coil for the EI.

Dave Neptune

[Antibes]

https://moyermarine.com/product/ignitor-electronic-ignition-kit-late-model-iglm_13_195/

Pretty straight forward to do and less to worry about

[tenders]

Maybe the most useful upgrade per dollar you can do on an A4. It's an entirely different level of reliability than the points and condenser system.

With it, you replace the cap and rotor every few years, the wires after every few caps and rotors, and never think about the ignition.

[goodoldboat]

Ei upgrade

Is there any benefit in engine performance with EI over points anc condenser

[joe_db]

Is there any benefit in engine performance with EI over points anc condenser

Mostly good EI vs. bad points. The engine is a slow turning low compression engine, the points ignition works fine, except when it doesn't.

[Dave Neptune]

goodoldboat, there is really no "gain" in performance when fresh and set perfectly. However the down side to points is that from the moment they are installed they begin to wear out. As the point assembly wears it changes the "dwell" which affects saturation of the coil affecting the spark and timing, this results in a steady decline in performance until once again they are replaced and properly set. Another down side is that in these old distributors the "cam" becomes warn out over time and proper setting becomes more difficult and requires a dwell gage to set up correctly. The weaker spark also causes more deposits in the cap so replacement of the rotor and cap is required more often.

With the EI the dwell and timing do not change so the spark remains strong and everything lasts far longer. The big plus though is that once set you can leave it alone for many years. The cap, rotor and plugs last many times longer so far less maintenance is required to maintain excellent unchanging spark performance.

Dave Neptune

[tenders]

In terms of performance tuning I feel as though the only real engine tweak to make is adding the adjustable main jet, which makes the carb run more efficiently and gives you somewhat better fuel efficiency.

Everything else I can think of is a maintenance reducer or reliability improver, or adjusts something other than the engine (like the three-bladed A4 prop).

(Is adding an O2 sensor a performance tweak?)

[joe_db]

In terms of performance tuning I feel as though the only real engine tweak to make is adding the adjustable main jet, which makes the carb run more efficiently and gives you somewhat better fuel efficiency.

Everything else I can think of is a maintenance reducer or reliability improver, or adjusts something other than the engine (like the three-bladed A4 prop).

(Is adding an O2 sensor a performance tweak?)

The biggest performance improvement would be a reduction gear, otherwise we have 20-25 hp engines more or less.

[sastanley]

advance plate :-)

I will chime in here with one more thing since this happened to me:

Even though maintenance is greatly reduced using EI over points..when you DO open up the cap/rotor, don't forget to lubricate the advance weights under the EI plate. This is part of the routine when you are regularly replacing points, but easy to forget with almost maintenance free EI.