Dino Saga 060319___Distributor rebuild

Aloha.

Ever considered an MSD Ignition? I was told they work well in the Dinos.....put one in a Speedster I used to have and it worked great......

Gregg

 

i have them in my dino's and they works great. i have never had a problem with the ignition.

 

Aloha.....My factory system works great........I'll stick with it too. Dennis McCann rebuilt my drive train 13 years and 2000 mile ago. I got the car 2 months ago and put another 1000 miles on it. More I drive it the better it runs. When should I check my points? Replace rotor and condeser too like when I was a kid?

Mahalo..Gregg

 

Is the cap $400.00 special or normal one?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190154426346

 

Very cool. But if you are gonna really be retro, set it up on a vintage Sun machine! It's actually fun, in a perverse, self-abusive sort of way!!! I, too, think points get an unfairly bad rap...after all, it's not the F-1 championship or something!

 

I thought the same as you, but when i did make the switch to programmable ignition system i wouldn't go back to the old set up.

 

Hi

I wouldnt say it was easy, primarily because the instructions [or lack of them] caused alot of heartache to begin with. However i decided to take the plunge and purchased the Black Stallion programmable ignition system from Superformance UK.

My main reason is that i wanted to get reliabilty, the 246 distributor is renowned for being a tiresome piece of kit. Incidentally the same distributor on the 308 is less troublesome, the only difference is that the engine rotates clockwise instead of anti clockwise on the 246. Why??

I rebuilt the original a few times but could never really get the engine to run properly, always blamed the Webers for going out of tune.

Ok the unit is expensive and i have looked at other comparable units on the market but none have the programmable ignition whereby you can set the advanced curves. They are electronically activated so no spring / bob weight mechanisms to stiffen or wear out. Timing therefore is bullet proof

The installtion is pretty straight forward, remove your old distributor and bolt in a nice new one. This appears to be machined from solid aluminuim and made to look similar[not identical] to the old disy. The trigger is a hall effect sensor. Setting up the timing is pretty straightforward. Get 6 deg BTDC on cylinder no 3 and set the the timing marks to correspond with the marks on the rotor and casing. tighten bolts and that bit is finished.

wiring is easy now that i have sorted out the problems. Originally the system was designed for the 308 i beleive and nobody from BSM had bothered to change the wiring diagram. They were really helpful in sorting this out though.

All of the installtion is around the rear boot area. basically i found it easier to remove the old backplate and make a new one. That way if i wanted to revert to the old set up i could + it would look a lot neater. The attached photo shows all the components installed on this plate. It is then a simple case of mounting the plate on the existing studs and connecting up to the original ferrari loom.

Programming is easy via the CD software you get. the unit comes pre programmed with initial advance curves set. These can be adjusted to suit your own driving style.

There were some issues with the system, no instructions, no wiring diagram and no details on how to configure the HT leads to suit the 246. However most of that is now sorted. The ignition coil [see seperate post] was an issue but i am coming to terms that the coil just does run that hot!!

You may not believe this but the engine runs like a dream. No spitting through the carbs, no fluffing and popping through the exhausts. MPG has increased as well.

Starting from cold is instant and when hot a few cranks of the engine and she fires up striaght away

So in all was it worth spending soooo much money on my little baby. You bet it was.

I must add that i changed the starter for a higher capacity [not gear reduction] and that has transformed the car too. Coupled together it was money well spent.

The thought of no more messing around with the old disy, points & springs etc is just perfect.
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Mounted on new plate

The thick red cable is a screened cable which passes through the rear bulkhead with the coil HT lead and connect to the new disy.

The other two wires connect to the tacho and ignition feed.

The small brown box is the relay, the red cover with a switch is for selecting standard advance curves or enhanced. The small green fuse box is fitted because you take a 20amp supply from the rear of the starter motor to the relay.
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Thanks John

Originally i programmed the unit (1st curve) with the settings Ferrari give in their manual from memory these were approx.

RPM Adv
1000 0
2000 8
3000 15
4000 20
5000 26
5500+ 30

It did not like running on these settings and felt very sluggish, so started to swap things around. They are completely different and the difference in performance between the two of them is huge. Does the Ferrari set up work? No in my opinion as with all mechanical advance systems there are a lot of factors that affect the accuracy. Remember these are now electronically fired, the only in-accuracy would be the programmer

So the advance curves i programmed into the unit (2nd curve) were as follows with 6 deg of static adv

RPM DEGREES ADVANCE
0 0
800 6
1600 14
2400 23
3200 26
4000 26
4800 26
5600 26
6400 26
7200 26
8000 26

rev limiter set a 7200
idle set at 850rpm

Ran sweet and pulled well all through the rev range [up to 4800 just rebuilt the engine but it is loosen up nicely now]

Now as i had fitted High comp pistons 10.5 :1 i did start to get slight pinking at low revs in top gear, around 2500rpm. Tried to retard things back a little but no effect. In the end i seemed to have cured the problem by getting Shell V power fuel 98RON.

Life would have been easier if i had a rolling road but alas i haven't.....yet!! Most of the work was done on the road with a laptop plugged into the controller port

Programming was simple and you can actually change the curves as the engine is running through each rev range.

At idle the difference between the ferrari curves (1st curve) and remapped curve (2nd settings) was amazing. It ran so quite when i was walking back from the end of my garage i thought the engine had stalled. That was impressive

There was a slight issue on the coil overheating and what settings to use. When i get a few minutes i am going to get it on a rolling road and try swapping the max and min dwell times to see if this reduces the coil temperature.

Tony

 

Laptop meets Dino. Very cool.

While we all appreciate cars restored to original spec, it's also nice to see the application of modern technology to make Dinos more usable and sustainable. As NOS/OEM parts become harder to find, going your route may become the norm.

Cheers...Keith

 

You hit the nail on the head Keith.

Modern technology does have a role to play. Whilst i am trying to be sympathetic to its originality, it takes second fiddle to getting 100% reliability.

Around these neck of the woods, they take the bricks away after they have stolen your wheels. so leaving a dino stranded in the layby would be Christmas come early to some!!

Tony

 

good idea John, i am happy with the thread changing as well. Its been an uphill task thats for sure. Hopefully i may be getting to the bit that goes down now!!!

Tony

 

Um... What is "060319"...?

 

Date:

2006 03 19

 

I have been following this thread and thought I would just throw in my 2c worth. Having worked on various points carrying vehicles over my life, I can say that it was a good system for its time, however, the advancements in electronics have made them obsolete. I really like the upper support bearing on the distributor as that probably solves many of the problems with wavering distibutor cams. Nonetheless, the pointless system whether by Hall effect or optical trigger has tremendous advantages for longevity and accuracy of firing event. The newer systems will even provide multiple plug firing below 3K rpm. Some comments have also been made relative to complete advance control electronically which I feel is also a tremendous benefit as spring control (or vacuum) is rather crude, especially on the Dino. Energy capacity of the newer systems is also great for better fuel burn and long spark plug life. I have already modified my distributor but haven't installed it in the engine yet...lots more restoration work before that happens. Here is a picture. Good thread. I would like to see other solutions as I have time to make changes.
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