Does anyone have any information on this system.

[BEEK]

This came with a car I just acquired. any help with this would be appreciated. I obviously know what it is. But does anyone have experience with this setup. recommendations. or any thing that might help me along the way.

 

[JimD]

I obviously know what it is.

What is it? It is hard to look for info without knowing exactly what it is. It looks like it "might" be an Allison Distributor less Ignition. Maybe? @bbrown had a long thread on that topic. The pictures are dead, but the text lives on.

 

[Steve Thomas]

Allison Distributor less Ignition.

Agreed :

 

[BEEK]

great write up. Does anyone have a copy of tye instructions?

 

[Dr.Jeff]

That Allison unit was made from a aftermarket system originally designed for old air-cooled VW engines. The VW community found them to be very unreliable and problematic so it lost favor and ran out of production. I recall hearing similar feedback from a few X owners that tried it.

 

[MikeHynes]

Randy,
I have a Compu-Tronix DIS4 manual. I think that's what you need. I scanned it into a PDF.

 

[bbrown]

HERE: is the original write-up in a downloadable PDF ...

Regarding reliability, I had no issues with this ignition system and the person who bought my 86 X (Trailer Queen) had no issues with driving across the country (from NH to CA) or at any time. I'm willing to bet the reliability issues are/were derived from using Scotch-Lock connections rather than water-proofed weather sealed connections as displayed in my write-up. Not sure of others experience but I found it to be a very reliable ignition.

 

[Kendall]

The two things that I pick up from this are, what kind of advance is there? And that apparently a ford 2.3l ignition system will work in an old Fiat.

The compu-tronix manual says to set the total advance to 33 to 35 degrees. So what's the timing at idle and the curve?

Does anyone know what year Ford this applies to?

 

[bbrown]

Forget about the Ford spec. The Fiat engine & cam setup is different. Use the Fiat spec. If I remember correctly, mine was set to around 13 degrees. I could be wrong (it's been a while!) but use the FIAT recommended advance specification to start.

 

[dllubin]

The idle advance tends to be a function of cam duration, compression ratio, fuel, and probably a few other things. Longer duration tends to require more advance, higher compression tends to require less advance. My camshaft supplier spec'd 20 degrees at idle for mine. That required me to recurve the distributor for about 10 - 15 degrees centrifugal advance in the low 3,000 rpm range.

 

[Rupunzell]

I'm willing to bet the reliability issues are/were derived from using Scotch-Lock connections.

~Scotch-Lock connections... Do NOT use.. They are designed to fail when applied in the ways they are marketed. They might be easy to make tap connections and such. Their design is inherently un-reliable and will fail if subjected to environmental/mechanical stress. Their potential problems are also very subject to the type of insulation and wire they are being used on.

These "Scotch-Lock connections" were an extension of 3Ms insulation displacement system which is a controlled and essentially very spec system that works good. This idea was "extended" into what is essentially an uncontrolled environment which will promote connection problems.


Bernice