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MG Midget and Sprite General - Electronic Ignition

Probably been covered many times before but I can't find anything searching the archives. I want to ask family for electronic ignition for Christmas, they cannot run to the 123 dizzy that I have seen is popular and well respected. What would you recommend as a less expensive electronic ignition upgrade for my 1970 Mk3.

PJ
P.J young

Google simonbbc.
It realy works great and is cheap as chips.
You might be able to get a kit containing
Rotor, cap, leads, coil and electronic conversion as a present
Onno K

Accuspark, costs about£30, all fits under the cap.


www.mgbreakers.com/accuspark/index
Robin Cohen

also getting a new rotor, dissy cap and HT lead set can make a difference as these items age and deteriate without always showing a lot of signs of such

a good quailty rotor arm and dissy cap can potentially save lots of difficult to find running problems, no need to go overboard with HT leads as long as they are of reasonable quality

spark plugs are also left in beyond their optimum because they look OK
Nigel Atkins

Forgot to say, you MUST fit a distributor doctor red rotor arm. Just google distributor doctor. I chased odd missfires for several painful years, blaming everything from plugs to leads etc only to find a rotor arm failing (and it was new bosch one). Best £6 quid I've ever spent on the car.
Robin Cohen

Be very careful when replacing all of your ignition components in one go, as you may be introducing a fault.
There are a lot of substandard parts on the market, apparently!
Dave O'Neill2

rotors are (were?) certainly potentially of poor quality

http://www.distributordoctor.com/red-rotor-arms.html

one of the big suppliers (might be Moss, I can't remember) also claims to sell superior quality rotors

I've bought dissy caps and rotor from Halfords before and just recently and have found them to be of good quality

in a normal Spridget I think standard good quality HT lead sets are more than adequate, better I think to change them every 3-5 years than buy an expensive set

i.e. expensive set £30-£50 last x years, good quality set £10 changed even every 3 years = £30 for 9 years

mind if it's a present then sure go for expensive but don't expect them to last for ever just because they cost more

I once got a fantastic set of HT leads that you cut to length and ended yourself with a selection of ends (so you get a much neater and better set fit) drag race thickness and heat resistance for the equivalent of paying £15 for a Spridget set
Nigel Atkins

Can they stretch to an Aldon ignitor? I fitted one to the 1338cc near race engine in my mini and it never missed a beat. Really easy to fit too.
S Overy

+1 for the Aldon igniter - that's what I had before the 123

be very careful when fitting to make sure the (delicate) wire when fitted inside and outside of the dissy can't rub, catch or nip against anything whilst the car is running as I believe this to be the true cause of many complaints against igniter heads

you'll still need to oil your dissy (see owners Handbook) can't remember about greasing though

look after your dissy, remember with an igniter you're putting a new part on to an old part so it's the old part that needs care

if you wamted to you could fit the parts one at a time to see what and if the differences are

start with the leads and dissy cap - but first mark up the old leads and dissy cap so as not to loose the firing order - then the rotor and last the igniter head

you will notice a difference with the igniter at least

you may then need/want to have the tappets, timing and carbs set up at the next service if not before
Nigel Atkins

This thread was discussed between 22/11/2011 and 27/11/2011

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