Yesterday, 01:58 AM
One slight correction to this story Orv, the tiny v belt your speaking of drove the alternator. The magneto and then the distributor with Mallory coil were all run with a flat cog belt. That belt have a pretty heavy load when it was running the mag, because it had to wind up the spring on the retarding dogs during the starting sequence. When we went to the distributor, all it had to do was drive the two little gears in the gearbox that turned the center cam to open and close the points. Then we starting have trouble with metal wearing from the spark advance mechanism falling in the center of the cap and shorting out the spark to all plugs. Next came the dual point fixed points with no moving parts. This worked better until the Mallory coils started heating up and shorting out. There were a few other issues with the dual
Point setup because the posts that held the points weren’t properly staked in the base plate and came loose on some units.
Year or so later, we got dual electronic ignition and engine stoppage was reduced by at least 90%!! Those packs were very good and only very rarely failed. But now there two and no stoppage.
Lastly in 1995 we got the GM Saturn packs and they are near bullet proof. Only fail when you the voltage up backward ,blows them instantly!
In the months prior to my cross county flight in 88, I had at least 4 engine stoppages due to the coil going bad. After changing out just about everything else we changed the coil and no more problems. Made it coast to coast with no electrical issues , just a broken valve spring in Virginia. Just a quick landing because of a lose of power on one cylinder. Fortunately, it was in an area where there was plenty of places to land, which I did.
A short history of the ignition systems on the RotorWay from 1975 until 2000 something when they went to the latest thing that the Talons have.
Point setup because the posts that held the points weren’t properly staked in the base plate and came loose on some units.
Year or so later, we got dual electronic ignition and engine stoppage was reduced by at least 90%!! Those packs were very good and only very rarely failed. But now there two and no stoppage.
Lastly in 1995 we got the GM Saturn packs and they are near bullet proof. Only fail when you the voltage up backward ,blows them instantly!
In the months prior to my cross county flight in 88, I had at least 4 engine stoppages due to the coil going bad. After changing out just about everything else we changed the coil and no more problems. Made it coast to coast with no electrical issues , just a broken valve spring in Virginia. Just a quick landing because of a lose of power on one cylinder. Fortunately, it was in an area where there was plenty of places to land, which I did.
A short history of the ignition systems on the RotorWay from 1975 until 2000 something when they went to the latest thing that the Talons have.