Very Cool Ignition Upgrade

[Mike W]

OK.  I'm the original poster on this thread and may have been the first, or one of the firsts, to use the 123 ignition on an L6 Z engine.  I also use an MSD 6AL on mine and have had no issues with it since it was originally installed.  I will say that when I was first contemplating using the 123 system, there was a note I believe on the 123 Ignition site in Europe, that indicated using a multi spark ignition system with the 123 was not recommended.  I ended up contacting their US rep who put me in touch with their chief engineer in Europe so I could understand more about the MSD issue.  Turns out that no one had ever really done this before with the 123 system and the engineer really didn't see any reason why it wouldn't work.  So I went ahead and completed the install with the 123 dizzy and the MSD 6AL.  So far I have not had any real issues with this system and I would characterize this as one of the best upgrades that I have done.  Makes changing the timing curves a snap.  I've attached the wiring diagram I drew up when I first did the install (including wire colors).

I will provide one word of caution / advice on the original install.  According to the 123 install directions, once you get the dizzy physically installed, you need to turn the unit until the green light just comes on.  This assumes that your engine is at TDC and this "green light calibration" is intended to get the dizzy in timing sync with the engine.  In other words this calibration should result in the dizzy being at TDC with 0 degrees of advance.  However, after some trial and error, I found that this initial position actually introduced an advance of about 10 degrees so when I thought I was at 0 degrees, I was really at 10 degrees BTDC.  So my advice is that once you have the dizzy initially installed and "calibrated" using the green light method, load a 0 degree advance program into the 123 unit and check your timing at idle with a timing light.  Ideally, it should show that you are at 0 degrees advance, but if in fact it is off (like mine was) you will need to loosen the dizzy mounting clamp and turn the dizzy until you read TDC. Once you have this set as a 0 degree baseline, you can then load in programs with the desired advance curve.

Hope that helps.  Let me know if you have any other questions.

Mike.

 

123 Wiring 2_19_14.pptx

[JohnnyWas]

1 hour ago, Mike W said:

OK.  I'm the original poster on this thread and may have been the first, or one of the firsts, to use the 123 ignition on an L6 Z engine.  I also use an MSD 6AL on mine and have had no issues with it since it was originally installed.  I will say that when I was first contemplating using the 123 system, there was a note I believe on the 123 Ignition site in Europe, that indicated using a multi spark ignition system with the 123 was not recommended.  I ended up contacting their US rep who put me in touch with their chief engineer in Europe so I could understand more about the MSD issue.  Turns out that no one had ever really done this before with the 123 system and the engineer really didn't see any reason why it wouldn't work.  So I went ahead and completed the install with the 123 dizzy and the MSD 6AL.  So far I have not had any real issues with this system and I would characterize this as one of the best upgrades that I have done.  Makes changing the timing curves a snap.  I've attached the wiring diagram I drew up when I first did the install (including wire colors).

I will provide one word of caution / advice on the original install.  According to the 123 install directions, once you get the dizzy physically installed, you need to turn the unit until the green light just comes on.  This assumes that your engine is at TDC and this "green light calibration" is intended to get the dizzy in timing sync with the engine.  In other words this calibration should result in the dizzy being at TDC with 0 degrees of advance.  However, after some trial and error, I found that this initial position actually introduced an advance of about 10 degrees so when I thought I was at 0 degrees, I was really at 10 degrees BTDC.  So my advice is that once you have the dizzy initially installed and "calibrated" using the green light method, load a 0 degree advance program into the 123 unit and check your timing at idle with a timing light.  Ideally, it should show that you are at 0 degrees advance, but if in fact it is off (like mine was) you will need to loosen the dizzy mounting clamp and turn the dizzy until you read TDC. Once you have this set as a 0 degree baseline, you can then load in programs with the desired advance curve.

Hope that helps.  Let me know if you have any other questions.

Mike.

 

123 Wiring 2_19_14.pptx

Mike! This has been maaaajorly helpful information. Also, your wiring diagram shows me that I’ve got the right idea. However. You have a tach adapter in place in your schematic. Is this a necessary component in getting the car to run?? If so, this may in fact be my missing link. Thanks much!

[Mike W]

Really glad this helped out!! 

Before I used the 123 system I ran a Mallory Unilite with the MSD box but found that the tach would not operate properly with the tach signal from the MSD.  I tried a couple of different adapters, both passive and active, and the active one worked best, so that's whats in my car.  However, it should not be required just to get the car to run.  It is only used to provide a proper signal to the tach so it works correctly.

Mike.

[JohnnyWas]

Ok! So I replaced my coil with a FlameThrower 3.0ohm unit, wired up my ignition per the simpler 123 Instructions (coil positive + trigger and ground), and I DO get spark now... but it's orange and weak. New plugs, so just need to diagnose this issue now to get a hotter blue spark in the system. Once I'm able to sort that out, perhaps I'll attempt to reintroduce the MSD 6AL to the mix.

So until this point, it feels as though my issue may have been a weak coil. (??)

Edited November 1, 2018 by JohnnyWas