SIMON BBC ELECTRONIC IGNITION FOR ALL DOLOMITES !!!

[MK SPRINTER]

A few of you mentioned the electronic ignition kit I purchased for my Sprint so I have created a new topic for everyone to see. If anyone is interested in electronic ignition for their Dolomite including Sprint then the Powerspark by SimonBBC is the one to go for. I fitted this a few weeks ago and have realised a noticeable difference in the way my vehicle runs and starts. Once fitted I removed the ballast wiring and took a 12v feed from the fusebox with a Lucas Sports Coil (These kits don't work as well on ballasted systems)

I checked the website and the price was not even £30 !!! It takes a bit of time and fiddling about to fit. The worse part is that the distributor timing needs to be completely adjusted, the timing is advanced by 26 degrees when the module is fitted so the distributor needs to be taken out (not fully) and rotated to counteract this. (From memory one tooth counter clockwise)

This is a great bit of kit for £30, I would recommend it to anyone. Check out the website below for more details, he does'nt have our distributors listed on his website but if you give Simon a call he'll be more than happy to help you.

http://www.simonbbc.com/powerspark-kits

[Spunkymonkey]

I'll second that - fitted it to my 1300 last year and never looked back

[JPB]

"Simon" buys his kit from Britpart. In fairness to all, it should be pointed out that we're quite at liberty to do the same, thereby saving lots of cash. £11 for the same parts from their retail outlets and yes, they do both the blue and the red systems.
I've already mentioned that I tested the Britpart among other, similar but invariably dearer units for another forum a few years ago. The Britpart was found to be more stable than any other magnetic system, almost matching Lumenition Optronic for accuracy and absence of scatter.
The only thing that let "Simon"s repackaged ones down was that he didn't understand what the thermal paste was for so used to send out silicon of a different grade that actually insulated, instead of heat soaking the unit. This has, I'm led to believe, been addressed and his current stuff is sent out with clear instructions about the importance of the thermal putty. Just as Britpart themselves always did....

[Spunkymonkey]

The only trouble with the Britpart ones is that I couldn't find one for a 25d distributor listed anywhere, whereas Simon had them in stock

I don't suppose your testing included testing their low voltage cut-off, JPB? I'd love to fit something like this to the Dafs but absolutely nobody is advertising 6v 2 cyl versions - the 2 cyl isn't a problem but the 6v thing probably is!

[TahitiSPRINT]

Hi MK Sprinter,

I’m also interested in one of these kits and found your “fiddling” experience very useful, especially your advice on advancing the timing when this module is fitted.

Two questions I have is:

1/ Did you use the original Sprint rotor arm, or did you use the “uprated” red rotor arm also offered by Simon BBC?

2/ Other sources state that these kits won’t fit under the original Sprint distributor cap. Is your Sprint fitted with the original cap?

Thanks very much!

[JPB]

Joe, It didn't include that test specifically, since none of the Reliants, even the old Sidevalve ones, were running 6V electrics.
But.... For the first three weeks of my Rebel being fitted with a Britpart unit (on a 25D by the way, unit bought from Britpart back in 2007 to replace a faulty Pertronix Ignitor), I had it running from a 6V feed instead of the 12V source that it should have had, that feed was created via a ceramic ballast resistor to feed the idle solenoid on the Weber conversion. This error taught me two things: The Weber would still allow smooth idling without its solenoid connected and yes, the Britpart system ran from a 6V source. When I eventually spotted my mistake and reinstated the feed to the solenoid on the carb, fitting a 12V ignition fed one for the Britpart, the car didn't behave any differently.

Funnily enough though, I had a conversation a couple of nights ago with a fella from Dublin who intends to convert his yellow 44 Estate to 12V for this very reason.

[Spunkymonkey]

Cheers for that, JPB. Sounds like it's worth splashing out on one just to find out. It'll need some mods to the baseplate to fit the Bosch distributors they use but pretty sure one can be made to fit, if not run

[JPB]

There's a fella over in Holland who fitted a pair of Britpart units - of the very first type which only came in 45D flavour - to the distributor of his motor bike.
At this point, I'd link to the thread on R3W where the images are shown, but there'd be no point since only members can view the site.
I'd then consider signing in but my membership has lapsed.

[MK SPRINTER]

Hi MK Sprinter,

I’m also interested in one of these kits and found your “fiddling” experience very useful, especially your advice on advancing the timing when this module is fitted.

Two questions I have is:

1/ Did you use the original Sprint rotor arm, or did you use the “uprated” red rotor arm also offered by Simon BBC?

2/ Other sources state that these kits won’t fit under the original Sprint distributor cap. Is your Sprint fitted with the original cap?

Thanks very much!

TahitiSprint, the original rotor arm to the Sprint is still used but I forgot to say in my previous thread that the red module will not fit !!! You must order the BLUE module which is alot shorter. Everything will then fit in, this includes the original dizzy cap. Once fitting make sure to use the thermal paste as mentioned earlier and ensure the wires won't rub against the shaft. Make sure the magnetic trigger ring is fully seated. Remember not to use the ballast system and use a 12v coil.

[TahitiSPRINT]

Thanks for your feedback MKSprinter, much appreciated

[stokieat75]

Have been looking at the britpart electronic ignition compared to the Simonbbc item and i see that the britpart one appears to have the rotor arm and trigger ring as one item, wheras the bbc one has a seperate trigger ring and normal rotor arm so i am wondering that if the britpart one ever has to be replaced then as it is a non standard item could be difficult to get a replacement, has any one any expirience of the reliability of the bit part module ? i see that it is cheaper than the bbc one but if it has a non standard rotor then that puts me off buying it incase of future difficulties so may go for the simonbbc one as it has standard parts and to me worth the extra £11 or so.
If this simon gets hisparts from britpart then could the one i have seen been an old type?

[JPB]

He resells Britpart kits, the one-piece rotor arm and trigger assembly is only found on the older Britpart units.
Very early arms were a bit leaky when they heated up but that was the only issue I found when conducting the tests on these things for some R3W members, later ones were found to have insulation that was well up to scratch and didn't leak even when in the hot confines of a Fox or kitten engine bay.

Wherever you buy one, there's nothing to beat it at even twice the cost since the Pertronix (Aldon if you buy from the UK retailer at twice the price) Ignitor has been much less reliable and in fact no more stable than points.
Lumenition's entry level Magnetronic wasn't any advantage either, only their Optronic and the very much dearer 123 distributor matched the Britpart for stability.

[steve_1360]

Do they do one for the 1850? I could only see the Lucas ones. I would be interested in one for my upside down dissy!

[JPB]

The original Britpart 45D kit has been fitted to all sorts of applications it wasn't originally intended to fit, probably because its very low price encourages folk to improvise with it. All that matters is that its base is able to sit flat and that the trigger ring is secured properly so it won't run on the spindle. I think that the Delco distributor might just defeat it since the sensor ring is that little bit too tall to go under the weights, but I'd love to be proved wrong.

Somewhere, I've a picture of two Britparts being used in a (wasted spark) Fiat Cinquecento distributor to very good effect, I'll post that up to here if I can find it.

[Toledo Man]

John, I'd be interested as well if one was available. I'm still toying with the idea of fitting a Sprint dizzy which would give me a few more options.