Kent engine ignition options

[NicBowman]

Hi

Vixen S2. Cross flow engine at 0.090” overbore, full race head, twin Weber DCOEs, Kent 234 cam.

Ignition choices? I have Powerspark or similar on my 3000S seems to work well and very good prices. Do I dump the vacuum advance (as recommended by the above company), ballast resister needed? Coil? Best advance curve?

I don’t want a mad modern setup at great expense, ideally just a dizzy, old school.

Thanks


Nic

[Moto]

NicBowman said:

Hi

Vixen S2. Cross flow engine at 0.090” overbore, full race head, twin Weber DCOEs, Kent 234 cam.

Ignition choices? I have Powerspark or similar on my 3000S seems to work well and very good prices. Do I dump the vacuum advance (as recommended by the above company), ballast resister needed? Coil? Best advance curve?

I don’t want a mad modern setup at great expense, ideally just a dizzy, old school.

Nic

Nic,

I have always run an Accuspark kit which replaces the contact points & condenser within the dizzy. It effectively provides an electronic spark removing the need to maintain points & condenser and the inherent reliability issues.

It works well, has been reliable (I had to replace it once when I shorted it out by mistake) but for £40 a good product. However this is not an electronic mapable system, so as you say more 'old school'. It is all fitted inside the dizzy so nothing is visible.

Steve

[NicBowman]

Hi.

Thanks Moto.

The Powerspark is £70. The Aldon is £300! Not that I am trying to do it cheap. But seems insane. How do Powerspark get prices that low? I am tempted to try just as they are such a crazy bargain.

Nic

[ATE399J]

Having spent a fair amount of money building the engine why skimp on the ignition system?
Suggest you investigate Bestek, a pretty good product.

[GeneralBanter]

Having used both Accuspark and Powerspark, I would not recommend either if you are planning to keep the car long term. The modules can gradually break down and you will diagnose everything from a knackered plug to poor timing until you realise its the ignition itself. Admittedly my experience was on the Essex V6 where the dizzy can get hot but I know of others who have had the issue on the Kent engine, and certainly in my dealings with Accuspark the sending out of replacement modules is a regular thing.

I fitted Lumenition so the complicated end is remote and the dizzy end is bullet proof.

If on the other hand you are not keeping the car and just need it running well then pretty much anything already mentioned will work.

[NicBowman]

Hi

I did buy a Powerspark dizzy, being about as much as a Big Mac I couldn’t resist.

Thoughts, it looks cheap. Cap not compatible with older versions, quite cost reduced. In saying that it is a simple design mechanically, just a rotating shaft. I will see how it goes.

But, I would probably recommend you keep your old distributor and buy a retrofit system to fit in it.

Nic

[Monkeythree]

Keeping a known good distributor (Bosch, Lucas, even Motorcraft) but replacing the points with an electronic module that never needs adjusting and doesn’t wear out is the way to go in my opinion. It’s a much safer option than fitting a complete cheapo distributor with who knows how much timing built into it and suffering a complete engine meltdown.
A cheap module failing just means you stop at the side of the road. A cheap distributor NOT failing could mean a big hot expensive pile of scrap metal.

[LLantrisant]

best, but most spannering necessary, would be a dizzyless 3D ignition by Megajolt (or similar)

you will be surprised how your engine will change performancewise compared to a electronic dizzy ignition.

https://www.autosportlabs.com/product/megajolte-mk...

[Slow M]

Magneto would have fit the bill.