I have an 1800 bay that I have had electronic ignition on for years with no problem. On me split I have not done it as I read somewhere that the lobes on the dizzy on a pre dog house advance or retard on 3 cyl, I can't remember which, to keep it cooler.. I remember my mate saying he had to force the electronic ignition plate into the dizzy on his 1500 SP and I would imagine this was why as it would fire 12,3,6 and 9 as opposed to ten to nine on the one, Am I reading too much into it and the difference it makes would be next to nothing??
Are the lobes actually different, or is the retard done in the dissy cap? I'd expect the latter. Is the rotor for the ignition actually for the dissy in a 1500, does it fit? If it does, the ignition should work. Not sure I understand the last bit. The firing order should be the same as for any flat 4.
Im pretty sure the ancient diagram I saw it was the lobe that was slightly different, sorry about the other bit , I was using the clock face for the lobe positions, not clear at all!!
The timing retard on no3 is believed to have been done pre doghouse cooler days, for a bus. Its not mentioned in e.g. the VW engine service manual I have, probably just encoded indirectly in the table of particular combinations of intended vehicle installation, engine serial number and distributor part number. If you wanted to use electronic ignition, making sure its set for 28 degrees max advance overall is probably as safe as the VW retardation of ?? 3 degrees = 1.5 degrees at the distributor lobe will be almost invisible to the eye. Wear and tear and timing scatter probably hide it. Of course you could check by setting up using the timing light on No1 as usual at idle, then moving the pickup to No3 and seeing if timing is any different. And then for good measure and proof check No2 and No4 .. as 1,2 and 4 should be the same and No3 should be different by a measurable amount. If they are all about the same, stop worrying anyway as you havent got the feature and it hasnt killed your engine yet. So then you can fit the "009"or "205" SVDA matching electronic module (different fixing holes in the baseplate) The wiring confusion comes that if you have the industrial engine "009" distributor, the rotor arm is arranged at 90 degrees to the "205" SVDA style, so you have to put the engine at TDC No1 and then No1 lead is where the rotor points, nothing directly to do with the notch.
Good point, I will try it with the gun. I have a snap on jobbie so I should get an accurate reading, I have the standard set up with 205T dizzy
If you have a 113905205T, this is a Single Vac Only (large vac can) dizzy. Its lead configuration is the same as a 009. These were on earlier models with carbs putting out a weaker vac signal, giving 0 - 35 deg advance. Really liked mine on a SP 1641 before changing to the 123 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
