hey all, little while back i picked up this Indy Ignition.. cant find any info anywhere on this , so wondering if anyone knew much about them? theres a little typed sheet under the module that recommends for use 1970 78 Ford and Chrysler .. i wonder how many others it may work on.
This looks like the electronic ignition which switches power to the coil via a transistor (transistor ***isted ignition). Should have 3 or 4 wires, + 12v (from ignition circuit), points and coil negative. It may have a separate ground wire, or just gets it's ground through the housing. It will fit any negative ground standard points type ignition. Does it say where it was made?
Got a picture of the instructions too? As 36roadster says, sounds like a transistor "amplifier" that keeps the points for triggering. Fairly simple, but a step up from having the points handle all the current.
That is, if the transistor is any good... There were several cheap "options" one could add to point systems that were available before the car companies started producing electronic ignition systems. Many were not very long lasting.
Capacitive discharge ignitions became available in the early 60s, and were popular for years...they did indeed extend point life, etc. But like was mentioned, the electronic parts don't last forever. Fortunately you can revert to just the points when it fails. more photo editing
Standard transistor ***isted ignition. Takes about a half hour to install. I have built several of these and installed them on my cars. The rubbing block on the points wears out before the contacts do, as they now only switch a couple of milliamps. If it croaks (shouldn't with that large heatsink), you just short your "points' and "coil neg." wires to get home.
We put one of those on my Chevelle back around 1978 or so. Can't remember much about as far as running quality, etc. Think I still have one(on the card) somewhere in my parts storage!
It may do the job, but today I'd prefer an updated design with better components. The germanium transistors listed in that one may have been a**** the best for the job in the 60s, but these days it may make far more sense to leave the dwindling supply of obsolete germanium transistors to the electric guitar guys and instead use newer silicon transistors with (mostly) far better data. Had a quick look, couldn't find another schematic to suggest, but it shouldn't be hard to find. Pretty sure I have a couple of examples in the electronics books.
Popular Science had an article to make them with SCRs. I made a couple. Neat to see dwell meter top out when you hooked them up. https://books.google.com/books?id=X...page&q=popular science dwell extender&f=false
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