Very Cool Ignition Upgrade

[Mike W]

Grannyknot,

The issue I see with the switched version is that I do not know what curves will be pre-loaded. As I mentioned earlier, the Datsun version was created by the USA distributor and as far as I can tell, the work that he did was purely mechanical to ensure that the 123 dizzy would mate with our car. Not sure exactly what curves they are planning to use in the switched version. In the end there is only about $35 difference between the full tune model and the swithed version, and so from my perspective it was worth the extra to get all of the flexibility of the Tune model. If you are still interested in the switched I'm sure Ed over at 123 will provide you with the pre-progarmmed curves so you can get some idea on how they will work in your car.

Lastly, not sure where the $1200 came from. The whole setup costs about $550, which I admit is not in-expensive, but when it was all said and done, it was not a whole lot more that what the original Mallory set up cost me and I believe that I got a lot more for the $$ with the 123 dizzy. In the limit people make personal decisions about what is important to them in their vehicle and what is not and based on those priorities they choose to spend $$ in specific areas. For me, having this capability has always ranked pretty high and so my choice was to spend the $$$ even if it came at the expense of something else I wanted to do to my car.

Enough said.

Happy to provide any more detail to anyone that might be interested.

Mike.

[Captain_Zeros]

How about more pictures

I wanna see under that cap.

[TomoHawk]

There's a neat video on YouTube about a distributor with a clear cap. It shows you the arcing while it spins. I would like to see a similar one showing the mechanicals moving with changes in RPM and vacuum.

[Mike W]

Not much to see under the cap really. There are no weights, no springs, nothing but essentially the electronics. I've included a few pictures so you can see what I mean. I've also included a comparison shot of the 123 cap versus the Unilite cap. You can see how much larger the Unilte is than the 123.

Mike.

[123ignitionusa]

There are many pictures on the web of 123ignitions. Basically it is a pc board.

These truly have been around for some time and I have considered doing something for the 240 for about a year and just finished it up. prior to this I have been referring interested parties to the Dac House in Japan. Mike W is truly the Pioneer here for the Z owners and a great guy to work with. Great looking car Mike.

Ed

Edited February 24, 2014 by 123ignitionusa

[grannyknot]

Ed, since you are on this thread now could you elaborate a bit on the Switched 123 distributor? What kind of curves it has...

Thanks,

Chris

[SteveJ]

There are many pictures on the web of 123ignitions. Basically it is a pc board.

These truly have been around for some time and I have considered doing something for the 240 for about a year and just finished it up. prior to this I have been referring interested parties to the Dac House in Japan. Mike W is truly the Pioneer here for the Z owners and a great guy to work with. Great looking car Mike.

Ed

Thanks for joining, Ed. I'm interested in hearing more, too.

[123ignitionusa]

Gentlemen

I am not a techie but will do my best to answer your questions. I like you am a hobbyist looking to maximize the power from a classic car. So with that being said here is what I bring to the table. I have personally used both the switched and the "TUNE" so can give you what knowledge I have. My intention is not to debate the propiety of changing over to electronic ignition. I know that there are sound arguments for all the aftermarket ignitions out there, and to each his own.

Attached is the instruction booklet that comes with the Switched 6

You will be interested in page 26 which list the GB6 curves. Note there are 4 sets of maximum advance numbers. Each will have varying midrange curve numbers which is where most of your power comes from. The curves are fairly generic and so you will want to pick what is closest to what the motor manual calls for. Unlike the "TUNE" the switched has to be worked much like a conventional distributor once installed to fine tune it. As in rotating it cw or ccw to advance and retard the whole curve. So if you have picked something in the max 26 degree range and you really need 32 advance your distributor 6 degrees. Really pretty easy. It is important to not get carried away and add too much advance. Listen for ping and back it down if you must. If you feel you need more advance to work with the Jag 6 curves have higher max advance numbers and can be substituted on request.

Hope this helps

123SWITCH6.pdf

Edited February 25, 2014 by 123ignitionusa
Add picture

[Zed Head]

The switchable curves were discussed somewhat in the Hybridz thread - 123ignition - Nissan L6 Forum - HybridZ

They're not typical L6 engine curves. Many peak at very high RPM, compared to where the typical L6 Nissan curves peak. Open this link (the manual for the switchable dist.) and go to the bottom and you'll see the options. They appear to be shown in crankshaft RPM (unless they're set up for 9,000 RPM engines). http://www.123ignitionusa.com/123gb6rv.pdf

Looks like they're shown for 10 degrees starting point (idle advance).

Edited February 25, 2014 by Zed Head

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Mike this thread is epic, you KNOW I am about to buy this right. I love being able to switch out my curves and maximize my ignition advance where possible without having to pull the dizzy time and time again.

I will PM you with more details. YOu are right, 550 is chump change for a great working dizzy.

[Carl Beck]

I wonder - how many guys/gals here have actually re-worked the timing curves on a stock, points type distributor.

For several years, I tried to find a shop that still actually had a Sun Distributor Machine {SDM}. The first step in the process.. finding and documenting the baseline curve. NO LUCK around here - no one even has a Sun Distributor Machine even sitting in storage.

I'm sure everyone is aware that the L24's/L26's and L28's all run quite different distributor timing advance curves when stock. So even when swapping a more modern "electronic" distributor from a newer L28 into an L24 stock or modd'ed - it can easily result in a loss of performance because of the mis-matched timing advance curve..

Next - I watched EBay for years.. A few SDM's showed up - but in very poor condition and thousands of miles away. Bummer… So even with various springs of differing rates in hand, or modifications to the advance weights - and given the work of taking the dizzy apart etc - you just can't dial the optimum advance curve in.

A programable distributor is a brilliant solution - and at $550.00 it is far less expensive than owning your own SDM or paying a performance shop to do the work {if you could find a performance shop that still deals with mechanical distributors - }.

thanks to Mike W for bringing this to our attention..

Carl B.

Edited February 25, 2014 by Carl Beck

[grannyknot]

All righty then, I just placed my order, looking forward to this. I love the feature of being able to switch to a different curve while you are driving, that sounds perfect for a performance choice and maybe a gas saving choice for the highway.

Chris