Convert points to electronic?

[FiatJim]

On a '70 spider - what are the opinions of converting from a single point/condesner to an electronic system? I use the car as a daily driver, moderately aggressive to get up the hills in Central NY state. What do you think?
JIm

[124JOE]

i use a fireball3000 on my 78 ,from vics, no points for 10 years.

[majicwrench]

Since you asked opinions, and since we all have them..
I see no reason to change from points. Points work, they are easy to fix, they are cheap. I have other things to spend my time and $$ on.
My 72 has the same set of points in it as when I bought it. I have not touched them in three years. I should probably look inside the cap some time soon

[124JOE]

i do agree they work,
ive thought about putting points back in when having problems mostly.
also had problems with the shudder wheel on the Crain.
so carry the points in the trunk joe

[FiatJim]

Thanks for the replies.
The reason I am wondering is that the mechanic who rebuilt the carb. said to me that the "centrifuge spring" {never heard of that before] was too flexible and it was partially responsible for the car running roughly when cruising (at 2500-3000 rpm). Is he trying to sell me "muffler bearings"?

[TulsaSpider]

I had trouble with the points, kept blowing condensers, and replacing points got old that was my first year. Everyone has their opinion lol

[124ADDHE]

Sorry but as the points do work and can work OK, they are a constant chore and do not deliver the same spark energy that is really critical at high rpms, especially if you up the compression . The electronic unit allows for cleaner spark plugs also and I would imagine a bit better fuel economy.

I ran points on my 74' (dual points) and on my 78', I really cant tell you how much I like the feeling of not having to pop the dizzy cap every oil change and worry if I got the points setup perfect + having to take the 2000 grit to clean the contacts... and just to be safe with the electronic unit, I carry a spare mag pickup and Ignition amplifier with me.

[baltobernie]

Points wear, and as they do, ignition timing changes. The gradual change is difficult to detect; most suspect point gap and condition only when experiencing a miss or hard starting. The solid-state aftermarket modules some of us have installed eliminate only the points. These modules don't require adjustment, but if they fail, the car is dead.

But these distributors, like the Fiat version used in late-model Spiders, still have moving parts that wear out. The distributor cap and rotor are routine maintenance items. The centrifugal advance springs your mechanic is talking about are not routine maintenance items. They move the base plate that the module or points are attached to, changing the timing of the spark. If they are weak, missing or incorrect, your car will not run correctly, irrespective of points or module, so get this fixed.

[FiatJim]

"The centrifugal advance springs your mechanic is talking about are not routine maintenance items. They move the base plate that the module or points are attached to, changing the timing of the spark. If they are weak, missing or incorrect, your car will not run correctly, irrespective of points or module, so get this fixed."

The distributor is only 3-4 years old. Would the springs become weakened so soon?

[baltobernie]

I agree with you Jim, A fairly new distributor should not have worn springs. So let's back up a little bit.

Was the distributor new, used, or rebuilt? If new or rebuilt, we have to question your mechanic's diagnosis. Per the previous post, the springs constrain the centrifugal force of the advance mechanism. The correct spring value allows the advance mechanism to move at the correct pace vs. engine RPM. This is called the Advance Curve. For the Fiat TC, the curves look like this. (Distributors are curved based on emissions, performance, etc.)



Print this and take it to your mechanic. If he works on old cars like ours, he will have a "dial-back timing light". This is a strobe that fires when a pulse is detected on the spark plug wire to which it is attached. At engine idle, the strobe should flash when the timing mark on the crankshaft pulley is lined up with the timing mark on the yellow belt cover which is "lowest" (closest to the bottom of the engine). That's zero degrees "before top dead center". As he holds the trigger On and advances the throttle, the flash should "move" on the crank wheel as the advance mechanism, uh, advances the spark.

The dial-back light allows him to turn a dial on the back of the strobe (duh) to any numerical value. So with your points system, when he turns the dial to 30 degrees, the strobe should flash very near zero on the crank with the engine running at 3500 RPM and higher. Again, the zero position on the cover is the one closest to the ground.

With your points distributor, the advance amount for any given RPM should approximate the pink curve on the graph, with no jumps or flat spots. If it does not do so, the distributor should be removed and serviced. We all tend to think of carburetion when the engine doesn't run right, but the spark must arrive at the correct time of the cycle for anything to work. The spark must arrive earlier and earlier as the RPMs go up. Make sense?

[124JOE]

quick test
pull off the cap and try to turn the rotor gently
it should spring back to normal position
if it dont return all theway your springs are streched.joe

[blurple124]

I've been researching a conversion to electronic ignition. There seems to be a wide range of prices out there.

I found these two which seem to be reasonably priced. Has anyone had experience with either? Are they the same system or is one very different? Heck, I don't even know if they both function the way I expect them to!

Opinions:

1. Vick's
http://www.vickauto.com/newstore/index. ... s_id=2965i

2.Auto Ricambi
http://stores.auto-ricambi.net/-strse-1 ... Detail.bok

[124JOE]

that one from vics is not the same as mine,mine is a 3000 for higher revs
that one may not rev over 5000

[majicwrench]

Points will rev way over 5000......

[thefiatek]

I've run every option available and the 1608 single point distributor by far outperforms anything else, regardless of what graphs and specs. say. Road testing different distributors on the same engine is the best way to determine peak performance. Some of the bits and pieces for those are getting a little hard to come by though. Just my opinion based on experience.