(quoted from post at 18:26:30 10/23/14) There has been LOTS of wrangling and arguing about EI on these boards.
There is a huge amount of hostility towards it on some of these boards which can be summarized by a couple of quotes.
"You don't need EI on a 50 year old tractor."
"Points worked for my grandpa. They'll work for me."
Or, "Wait till it fails on you and you will be sorry you wasted your money."
I'm on the side that likes it and think that compared to a Lot of other do dads and gew gaws you can buy for your tractor EI is money well spent.
I put EI in a 3000 and did not touch the distributer again for 7 years other than to put a timing light on it a couple of times.
I sold that tractor 2 years ago to a fellow who calls me on occasion to ask about implements and such and I always ask him how the EI is doing.
Everytime it's the same answer; "It's still running great."
EI, unlike points, does not degrade with use. The dwell remains constant as does your spark, power and fuel consumption. EI will tolerate a lot more distributer bushing wear.
EI does not require periodic maintenance, does not corrode.
Points were built in an era of radio tubes. But everything is solid state today. Solid state is better, more reliable, just like an alternator with built in solid state voltage regulator is better, more reliable than an old fashioned generator and voltage regulator with points, coils and magnets to regulate the charging voltage.
There is not a single gas engine built today that still has points - hasn't been for 20 years. Not a lawnmower, motor cycle, boat, weed wacker, automobile or snowmobile.
If you like the idea of "set it and forget it"
you will like EI.
Looked at my plugs before the conversion. Each showed some carbon build up. Ran it for a while and the porcelain turned almost full white.(quoted from post at 18:58:01 10/23/14) can you extrapolate a bit on that hotter spark?
general comment, directed to the tractor population at large: The reason so many on these forums have trouble with points is that they are hobby tractors. If they were used more than they set idle, a vast majority of those problems would not exist. When they set unused, oxides form & insulate the low voltage contacts. Proof is that I can & have, many times, done nothing more than switch the current of a 60W/120 light bulb through those non-functioning points, then re-connect the tractor connections & fire it up and it runs great. Have to do this regularly on son's tractor because it is seldom used. Not on mine, they don't sit unused, at least for now, while I'm able to use them. Points such as these designed to switch relatively high currents were designed planning on the arc to blow away the contaminants. Contacts designed to sit & perform dry switching or switch an occasional low current (nearly dry switching) will be gold plated & will not suffer this oxide problem, ....however would be of no use in the distributor as the gold would also be blown away shortly.(quoted from post at 13:37:02 10/24/14) I recently put EI in a 641. I was having trouble with points going bad more than once a year and I was buying the best quality points I could (Napa Echlin, blue streak, etc.) I purchased a Pertronix kit from this site. Easy to follow instructions. Works great, starts with no choke, even in cooler weather (haven't had any cold temps yet). Seems to run smoother. Tractor is still six volt.
(quoted from post at 21:37:02 10/24/14) I recently put EI in a 641. I was having trouble with points going bad more than once a year and I was buying the best quality points I could (Napa Echlin, blue streak, etc.) I purchased a Pertronix kit from this site. Easy to follow instructions. Works great, starts with no choke, even in cooler weather (haven't had any cold temps yet). Seems to run smoother. Tractor is still six volt.
see nothing in electronics or physics to support his statement! Where is the "merit"?(quoted from post at 10:19:55 10/28/14)
I went to a clinic Monday and the instructor stated " A spark plug set closer will fire at a higher voltage" There is some merit to that statement I am just not sure how to apply it......
I'm having trouble with that as a coil will fire with higher voltage when the resistance goes up... capacitors are opposite.
So high resistance is good for the coil
coils like very high resistance..higher the better for voltage increase.
Second, the wider the plug gap, the more voltage it takes to jump it... so this is a negative effect.
Third
gas explodes faster, more complete with wider gap, and less with narrower gap.
forth.. it take more voltage to fire at higher compression than lower compression.
So you have a lots of opposing forces and dynamics at work.
(quoted from post at 18:41:20 10/28/14)see nothing in electronics or physics to support his statement! Where is the "merit"?(quoted from post at 10:19:55 10/28/14)
I went to a clinic Monday and the instructor stated " A spark plug set closer will fire at a higher voltage" There is some merit to that statement I am just not sure how to apply it......
I'm having trouble with that as a coil will fire with higher voltage when the resistance goes up... capacitors are opposite.
So high resistance is good for the coil
coils like very high resistance..higher the better for voltage increase.
Second, the wider the plug gap, the more voltage it takes to jump it... so this is a negative effect.
Third
gas explodes faster, more complete with wider gap, and less with narrower gap.
forth.. it take more voltage to fire at higher compression than lower compression.
So you have a lots of opposing forces and dynamics at work.
on't know what you mean, Hobo? More words.(quoted from post at 11:52:17 10/28/14)(quoted from post at 18:41:20 10/28/14)see nothing in electronics or physics to support his statement! Where is the "merit"?(quoted from post at 10:19:55 10/28/14)
I went to a clinic Monday and the instructor stated " A spark plug set closer will fire at a higher voltage" There is some merit to that statement I am just not sure how to apply it......
I'm having trouble with that as a coil will fire with higher voltage when the resistance goes up... capacitors are opposite.
So high resistance is good for the coil
coils like very high resistance..higher the better for voltage increase.
Second, the wider the plug gap, the more voltage it takes to jump it... so this is a negative effect.
Third
gas explodes faster, more complete with wider gap, and less with narrower gap.
forth.. it take more voltage to fire at higher compression than lower compression.
So you have a lots of opposing forces and dynamics at work.
All I can get from it is the plug will fire higher on the spark line...
see the longer duration, but if I understand your term 'firing line', then I still don't see "higher", but expect lower???(quoted from post at 12:47:30 10/28/14)
ReDO..
The plug will fire higher on the firing line and the spark line will be longer... Is this a case of having more energy available and extending the burn time verses using it all up to jump a larger gap.... I dunno jury is still out.... Maybe I need to turn my page upside down and look at it backerds....
That
s the way it looks to me in black and white...
(quoted from post at 21:10:10 10/28/14)see the longer duration, but if I understand your term 'firing line', then I still don't see "higher", but expect lower???(quoted from post at 12:47:30 10/28/14)
ReDO..
The plug will fire higher on the firing line and the spark line will be longer... Is this a case of having more energy available and extending the burn time verses using it all up to jump a larger gap.... I dunno jury is still out.... Maybe I need to turn my page upside down and look at it backerds....
That
s the way it looks to me in black and white...
won't!(quoted from post at 14:32:21 10/28/14)(quoted from post at 21:10:10 10/28/14)see the longer duration, but if I understand your term 'firing line', then I still don't see "higher", but expect lower???(quoted from post at 12:47:30 10/28/14)
ReDO..
The plug will fire higher on the firing line and the spark line will be longer... Is this a case of having more energy available and extending the burn time verses using it all up to jump a larger gap.... I dunno jury is still out.... Maybe I need to turn my page upside down and look at it backerds....
That
s the way it looks to me in black and white...
When I get caught up I will scan a few pages of spark lines until then lets don't lose any sleep over it...
(quoted from post at 10:02:30 10/30/14) It's pretty simple. Electricity will jump a gap at a certain voltage. The wider the gap is the more voltage it requires. Closing the gap requires less voltage.
Rick
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