1850 electronic ignition?

[RJF_70]

Which kit would anyone recommend for my 1850, she wouldn't start today for the first time since I had her, although she had been sitting a few weeks! Tried for a long time, battery now flat and starter needs replacing as well although it does turn over eventually after a couple of clicks. Has the original set up on it at the minute so would timing need to be reset etc with an electronic kit?
Cheers Rich

[MIG Wielder]

Lumenition Optronic !
Bit expensive these days, but it just works.
Use a 3.5 ohm coil and run from +12V .
Its a bit fiddly to fit as you have to dismantle the dissy to get the opto-chopper on.
One big advantage is that there is no fettling of plastic involved or height setting. It just works.
The electronic module is also remote and can be mounted where it is cooler for improved reliability.
( Electronics inside the distributor run close to cylinder block temperatures).
HTH,
Tony.

[Jon Tilson]

Can you solder? If so the 10 quid kit from Maplin works great. Add a fiver for a nice box and drill a few holes and away you go....

The delco dizzy needs a kit that can be bought from accuspark IIRC but needs to be dismantled to get the top advance weights off.
There is a thread on this somewhere.

I suspect your starting issue comes from the loss of ballast bypass feed from the starter. There is a wiki article on how to swap this out and go 12V coil.

To get you out of trouble just run a lead from the fuse box to coil plus to get you running and then disconnect when its started, which it almost certainly will.

Jonners

[RJF_70]

Jonners, not sure what you mean by "loss of ballast bypass feed from starter"
Cheers Rich..

[soe8m]

Jonners, not sure what you mean by "loss of ballast bypass feed from starter"
Cheers Rich..

That means that jonners always starts his replies with loosing the ballast feed and that is not good.

The best is to keep the ballasted ignition system. Most of the time when it does not work it's because of a bad connector. Those connectors do cost about 10 cents and take 10 minutes to replace.

Or you can like jonners change ignition coils and start rewiring and end up with a less efficient ignition system.

Jeroen

[RJF_70]

Now running again after getting a spark and fuel to carbs but still wouldn't fire, loose connectors sorted on coil and bingo fired into life , done 30 miles or so in it tonight and ran lovely!
Rich..

[Jon Tilson]

https://dollywiki.co.uk/wiki/Ignition_b ... ss_removal

Jeroen and I frequently cross swords on this point....its all good fun.

While he is right about the cost of connectors he doesnt consider the hostile environment they live in and the old looms that most owners
dont really want to faff about replacing big sections of...

Yes the ballasted system might be slightly more efficient....but there isn't much less efficient than a non starting car...

Jonners

[soe8m]

" slightly more efficient " is a good start Jonners! Two more years on and we have a whole different dolly ignition wiki.

Jeroen