electrical and ignition 123 Ignition and EFI?

[vacca rabite]

I've started exploring the 123 Ignition devices for electronic spark controls.

 

I'm also toying with the idea of moving my car to EFI.  I put a Microsquirt EFI system into my 914, replacing dual carbs.  I have another Micorsquirt brain, and a Megasquirt II brain and wire harness sitting and waiting for something to do.

 

On my 914 I'm using a crank fired ignition, and the dizzy has been deleted.

 

For the 2002, if I went with a 123 system, would I be able to use that later as the electronic spark for EFI, or would I be better served staying with points until I'm ready to swap everyhting over?

 

Also, does the 123 sytem make a difference in performance over a stock dizzy in working order (new rotor and cap, etc).  Does the 123 Ignition still use a mechanical or vac based advance, or is it fully electronic?

 

Zach

[2joejoe2]

Sorry I can't answer this...........I will be following this because I have been wondering the same thing 

[zinz]

I'll chime in with my own experience; which has been with carb'd engines and the 123.  I'm hopeful someone with EFI will chime in.

 

I can say that the 123 is superior to a stock dizzy (in top condition, or otherwise) in that it's fully electronic with no springs or weights to wear out.  It does have a vacuum port for vacuum advance, provided your carbs/EFI has a ported vacuum source. As a gear-driven distributor, it will never be as accurate as a crank-fired ignition system, but it will perform better than a stock Bosch.  I've found mine to be a robust piece of equipment... far outlasting other aftermarket dizzies.

 

Best part of the 123Tune is that is fully programmable to YOUR engine's needs.  This is especially significant to modified engines where one size does not fit all... You can use the rpm stopwatch feature to tune the advance in specific segments of the rpm range while driving.  In this way, you use the road as your dyno.  Pretty slick, really.

 

Ed Z

[TobyB]

No problem at all.  The early Megasquirt didn't do spark, either, and things like the 123 would only help, not hurt.

 

The real winner would be if the 2 could talk- the 'squirt knows what it's doing for fuelling, and if the 123 could 

get that data and make spark decisions based on it, that'd be super cool.

 

And total overkill.

 

Go for it.

 

t

 

[vacca rabite]

Okay, so it seems that the 123 unit can't speak to an EFI brian?  That would be the ultimate benefit for me if it could be used for carbs and then EFI later.

 

Zach

[jimk]

1 hour ago, vacca rabite said:

so it seems that the 123 unit can't speak to an EFI brian

If the ECU has any brains at all it talks directly to the coil!

 

(I just couldn't resist)

[TobyB]

Who's Brian? 

 

heh

 

There's no reason the EFI HAS to talk to the ignition- the 123 has its own sensors to determine load, right?

 

It would just be bonus.  I've run isolated systems (early MS, etc) with absolutely no problems.  You just have

2 systems to modify if you want to change spark and fuelling. 

 

For your situation, where you want to use carbs now, it's just fine.

 

t

 

[Healey3000]

What the heck, go with MS3 and call it a day!  Put the MS2 and 123 on ebay :-)

 

Then you can table-switch, be turbo-ready and use traction control because these M10 engines are soooo torque-laden.

[vinceg14]

Following because I want to know if you can run a big cam's and high compression  (10 - 1) with MS3 and tune it for 91 octane?

[vacca rabite]

37 minutes ago, vinceg14 said:

Following because I want to know if you can run a big cam's and high compression  (10 - 1) with MS3 and tune it for 91 octane?

You can. It's just harder to tune. You can do it with MS2 as well. If you have an aggressive cam you can't just use MAP to run the EFI. 

 

Zach

[Chris Ryan]

I'm also really interested in this subject, yet I have nothing to add.

 

I really just want someone to say how amazing EFI is over carbs so I can make the case for why that's the right way to go. Otherwise, might as well save lots of bucks and stick with a carb and the 123.