Cheap & EZ Ignition upgrade for 1.6 DOHC guys

[onlytrueromeo]

Tunes/Ariesdude I have a question about mounting the power tower on the 94+ disty cap...

You both mentioned drilling into the top of the cap along the raised ridge, where there is a metal strip to make contact with. Do I need to cut out the whole ridge area surrounding this hole so that the plastic part of the power town seats against the rest of the cap?

And Tunes you mentioned drilling through the cap where the original coil tower tube is, and you only need to slightly enlarge the hole for the screw to connect to the power tower through here. Is this correct?



Yellow is through the original coil tower hole/tube

Red would put it somewhere in the area between the center and the side of the tube.

Anyone got pics?

[Bumpysbro]

i drilled and put it where the yellow circle is. or atleast thats where i though it should go, i have it at home ill try and get a pic of it. i have yet to install mine since im still building my motor. good luck hope it works out

[Tunes67]

I did mine where the yellow circle is. Remember to cut the old coil tower off.. might consider filling that tube with silicone once you have the tower installed. Also.. I cut the red tower and only used the narrow portion of the tower.. but it doesnt matter.. make it look how you like it. When you drill the cap.. do it from the outside (top) down into the coil tower tube. Go VERY slowly and use small drill bits going slowly from smallest to largest. Largest size being large enough to allow the coil tower screw to go up inside.

Oh and that little weird piece of steel wool looking stuff they have wrapped around the screw? Toss it.. the screw wont fully seat up into the tube with that stuff on it.

One last tip.. hold the screw with a screwdriver when you have it into the coil tube.. but tighten the cap that goes onto the screw with pliers. If you twist that screw inside the coil tube.. it could rip the aluminum bridge and you wont make good contact if that aluminum strip is compromised.

Tunes67

[Bumpysbro]

nicely put tunes. thats exactly how mine is. are you running your hei setup yet?

[SuperK]

I would suggest placing some soldering between the screw and the metal lead.
I don't know how clean the 4cyl cap comes out, but the V6 cap was a mess to mod correctly.
Of course, just don't plan on using that screw again if you need to change your cap in the future

[onlytrueromeo]

Thanks guys, I'll be attempting this within the next few days, depending how much time school allows me

[Tunes67]

Getting solder into the location we are discussing would require a huge amount of luck. If the hole is drilled carefully.. it will be fine. A drill press is best for this.. slippage would be bad.

Bumpy.. I have been running on my HEI setup since August.. I know.. I havent gotten around to doing the writeup and stuff.. been working on my GS mostly. When I do a tune up on the RS this spring I will be making a new disty cap and will do the writeup then. The setup has worked just fine and my gas mileage actually improved 2 miles per gallon.

When you guys are picking a coil to use.. make sure you pick one that is rated to rev high enough for our applications. You could get a coil from a 92-93 SOHC MX-3 RS.. those would work fine. I grabbed a canister coil from a buddy that plays with MR2s. Those little motors really rev up there so I know this coil will be fine.

One additional note.. for some strange reason.. Mitsushitsi changed the disty cap & rotor for the 94-95 model years. BOTH will fit either year disty though. So just match the cap and rotor and your golden.

Tunes67

[Savin]

on a side note, how can you tell if the disty is going out or is bad? it might sound like a dumb question but when it comes to electronics not related to sound systems i'm stupid.

[Bumpysbro]

check the cap for cracks or carbon tracking. also on the contact points will either be burnt maybe. and that carbon button maybe worn down. google it and youll find lots of info