Fitting electronic ignition

[nickk]

Some of you may have seen me flashing my new pertronix kit,all went well,found a vacuum take off between the choke and throttle valve with lots of suck,starts well not road tested yet as it as I’m awaiting the tailgate from the sprayer,so to set the timing,the John Muir bible states 5 degrees AFTER tdc! Being sceptical I find that strange,so set it statically to 10degrees,before,check the advance works,all fine,however it runs much smoother and responsive at about 20degrees,so subject to a road test,shall I set to the book,or feel? Thanks.

 

[Barking Mat]

Feel. In my books, failing that when that doesn't work, try the book settings.

Probably somewhere between the two.

 

[piman]

Hello Nickk,

I read an article by an ex Triumph engineer that said that when they were trying to meet American emissions standards, they had to run the engine timed after TDC. It met the target but made the engine less powererful and decreased fuel economy.
It makes no sense to time after TDC. Dynamic timing by advancing until the engine pinks then retard slightly should work best, assuming your distributor curve is correct.

Alec

 

[Cobbler]

I seem to recall that it’s a different distributor that’s timed up after tdc, the vacuum advance is different, not the engine, so you time the engine relevant to the type of distributor. It’s a long time ago that I had a type 2, but I remember it confused me then, luckily then I knew someone who really knew about them & he put me right.

 

[nickk]

I did suspect the yanks!
It’s a us import ‘67 Splitty,with a later 1600 AH prefix engine,’71-‘73,so would have had early attempts at emission control from California,even has a plug hole for diagnostic readings.