SteveB(OH)
Member
Last fall I converted my 48 front mount to 12 volts with help from this board (thank you again).
This year I took the plunge to convert to EI. Please don't start a war over this. I'm not saying one method is better than the other. I just had some free time and I like to tinker and learn. After 20 years with 6 volts and breaker points I wanted to try something different.
Of course, here is the distributor before I started the conversion:
Here it is after installing the Pertronix II ignition module. Note that I have a coil block off plate already attached:
Here is the assembled distributor with a Pertronics distributor cap and terminal which allows completely eliminating the front mount coil. For anyone curious I had been using a hollowed out front mount coil with a round can coil for years but since I was doing this project I felt like upgrading everything:
Here is how I mounted the round can coil:
and here is a view of what the distributor installation looks like:
My observations:
My tractor was running fine with breaker points, so I wasn't looking for any huge improvements, but I do notice a few differences.
The tractor actually started better with the breaker points. It jumped to life on the first compression stroke. In fact, I used to demo a cold start for friends by simply pounding my fist on the starter button with a quick jab and the tractor would instantly fire up. Now, with EI it has to turn 2 or 3 compression strokes, but I'm not saying there is any kind of problem, it is still a fast starter.
The tractor idles down to dead slow better with the EI. There is no missing or popping now as there was with the breaker points.
My only guess is that there is some difference in timing between the 2 installs ?
I can tell you that for years my standard practice was to gap the points 0.010 wider than spec (0.025 instead of 0.015) to allow the points to wear down to spec. I can't remember anymore what that did to dwell etc, so maybe that is part of the difference.
All in all I'm glad I did the conversion. It was a fun project and I learned a few things.
This year I took the plunge to convert to EI. Please don't start a war over this. I'm not saying one method is better than the other. I just had some free time and I like to tinker and learn. After 20 years with 6 volts and breaker points I wanted to try something different.
Of course, here is the distributor before I started the conversion:
Here it is after installing the Pertronix II ignition module. Note that I have a coil block off plate already attached:
Here is the assembled distributor with a Pertronics distributor cap and terminal which allows completely eliminating the front mount coil. For anyone curious I had been using a hollowed out front mount coil with a round can coil for years but since I was doing this project I felt like upgrading everything:
Here is how I mounted the round can coil:
and here is a view of what the distributor installation looks like:
My observations:
My tractor was running fine with breaker points, so I wasn't looking for any huge improvements, but I do notice a few differences.
The tractor actually started better with the breaker points. It jumped to life on the first compression stroke. In fact, I used to demo a cold start for friends by simply pounding my fist on the starter button with a quick jab and the tractor would instantly fire up. Now, with EI it has to turn 2 or 3 compression strokes, but I'm not saying there is any kind of problem, it is still a fast starter.
The tractor idles down to dead slow better with the EI. There is no missing or popping now as there was with the breaker points.
My only guess is that there is some difference in timing between the 2 installs ?
I can tell you that for years my standard practice was to gap the points 0.010 wider than spec (0.025 instead of 0.015) to allow the points to wear down to spec. I can't remember anymore what that did to dwell etc, so maybe that is part of the difference.
All in all I'm glad I did the conversion. It was a fun project and I learned a few things.
