Ford Crossflow ignition

[chrisptm]

Could anyone offer advice on the best type of ignition set up to suit my ford 1700 crossflow currently fitted to my Fisher Fury.
The motor has a Burton big valve head fitted , a kent fast road cam , twin Weber dcoe 40s' etc
At the moment it has an electronic distributor from a Fiesta fitted ( by the previous owner )
I do not know a great deal about ignition systems but im sure that to get the best from the engine it should have somthing better fitted
It has been suggeted to me that an Aldon distributor would be much better ?
Is this correct or is there a better way to go in the electronic ignition department
ps my funds are far from limitless at the moment

[tribbles]

I used an Aldon distributor and electronic ignition in my XFlow Locust; whether it's any better than a Fiesta one, I don't know, I'm afraid (all I can say is that the Aldon one worked fine).

[kayos]

If it is working fine, I would not fiddle with it. If only I took this advice it would have saved me a few quid!!

[Mr2Mike]

The best type of distributor is none at all! Ditching it and going for a wasted spark system (e.g. Megajolt for cheap DIY, or Racetech/MBE/Emerald for commercial product) eliminates all mechanical parts from the ignition system (no more spark scatter) and allows you to tailor the advance curve to the engine perfectly, which is not possible with a clockwork system.

[chrisptm]

tribbles said:

I used an Aldon distributor and electronic ignition in my XFlow Locust; whether it's any better than a Fiesta one, I don't know, I'm afraid (all I can say is that the Aldon one worked fine).

thanks for the reply im sure that an Aldon distributor would do the job better than the current Fiesta one thats in the car now

[chrisptm]

kayos said:

If it is working fine, I would not fiddle with it. If only I took this advice it would have saved me a few quid!!

Your probaly right to say not to fiddle with it but you know what blokes are like

[chrisptm]

Mr2Mike said:

The best type of distributor is none at all! Ditching it and going for a wasted spark system (e.g. Megajolt for cheap DIY, or Racetech/MBE/Emerald for commercial product) eliminates all mechanical parts from the ignition system (no more spark scatter) and allows you to tailor the advance curve to the engine perfectly, which is not possible with a clockwork system.

Mr2Mike i think that you might have hit the nail on the head i have looked at the Megajolt system and it looks pretty good to me .the only thing that bothers me is understanding
the ignition map side of things ? how easy is it to tailor a map to suit you engine

[Mr2Mike]

chrisptm said:

how easy is it to tailor a map to suit you engine

Ideally you'd get it done on a rolling road, but plenty of people just start with a basic map from a similar engine and tune it by ear/seat of the pants. I forgot to provide a link, so the main Megajolt web site is at http://www.autosportlabs.net/Main_Page if you've not found it. Quite a few maps to download from there, and lots of help from the forum at http://www.autosportlabs.org/index.php

[jonboylaw]

I am considering the Maga-jolt option... anyone know where to get a crank angle wheel and bracket to hold the sensor? I am a comp[etant electronic engineer and have no doubts about building the Megajolt kit etc... but don't have the equipment to weld a trigger wheel to the crank pulley or fabricate a sensor bracket, just wondering if anyone has any parts or addresses.

Jon

1800 X-flow, Supersprint (Live).

[Mr2Mike]

Trigger Wheels

If you are handy with a drill and file it shouldn't be too difficult to fabricate a bracket that dosen't need welding. Have a hunt on Locostbuilders. numerous Megajolts fitted to xflows, zetecs etc. on there.