Electronic Ignition Upgraded

[Elhodgo]

Hi all, just starting to think about upgrading my 1750 GTV to electronic ignition. Any advice on what I should do? Brands? Just the ignition of should I go further than that?

[Barry Edmunds]

I have had an electronic ignition on my current Super (and the one before that as well as a couple of other Alfas) for many years so would definitely recommend taking that step. Providing you get the right one you will be surprised at the difference in performance.
There are a few different options, including some from OS.
Make sure that you go the extra yard and get the best possible plugs leads to match the system.
Mine was sourced locally (from a club member) and has never had a problem.
I prefer local as it is much easier to resolve any issues than the time and hassle of going back to the OS source for resolution.
Barry

[Colin Byrne]

Definitely recommend going down the route of Electronic ignition, you'll probably find the biggest advantage is in ease of starting. As for type, the pertronix ignitor series are pretty good.  The advantage of them is the ease of installation as it pretty much just a direct swap of the points.  External of the dizzy, the only way you can tell is the extra power wire running to it.  We have had reliability issues with them in the rally car with 1 out of the 2 outright failing, the design of the unit means the transistor that does all the heavy switching is stuck inside the dizzy with very little cooling available, so over heating is an issue.  They try and overcome this by using the base plate of the dizzy as a heat sink, so when you install them it is really important to use the thermal paste supplied between the unit and the plate to give it the best chance of survival.  We still use them in the rally cars, but in conjunction with a CDI ignition box from MSD.  the CDI (Capacitor discharge ignition) handles the high current/voltage side of things and lets the pertronix act more as a contact-less ignition trigger point, only switching a very low signal current.  This setup has been super reliable, but probably overkill for a road car.
All that said the pertronix is fine for a road car, actually in the new engine I've built for my road 105 (that I'm slowly rebuilding in between rally car repairs) I've installed a cheaper e-bay knockoff of the pertronix unit, haven't used it yet, but it's very easy to keep a set of points in the glovebox, and only takes a couple of minutes to swap them in if i'm stuck on the side of the road!
As for the rest of the ignition, no real mods required, just make sure the Cap, leads and plugs are all in good condition, any cracks in the dizzy cap can lead to all sorts of weird things going on

[Alfa.mg]

IG040 ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTOR BY 123 IGNITION

My father just put one in his 105 2L and we love it. Oredered it from classic alfa, was here in 3 or 4 days. Really easy to put on. Engine is smoother. Theres a couple of different models. Dad chose the one that has a few preset advance curves including a stock curve. Just need to turn a little selector on the side to change curves. There are other fully programable ones for more $$$

[Paul Byrne]

G'day, I am sure the 123 unit is fine, and probably a good simple upgrade for a road or club sprint car. The reason we went down the road of just replacing the points that Col describes is that for race or rally in classic classes ignition systems with programmable advance curves are not allowed. Although you are free to alter the 'curve' of the mechanical advance mechanism. Worth remembering if you contemplate some competition in the future.

[poohbah]

I've had the petronix on my 116 GTV road car for couple of years with no complaints. Sure beats mechanical points and was a fraction of cost of a full electronic dizzy. And still looks mostly original to a passing eye if that matters to you.