Electronic Ignition for 70 gasoline

I have a 1953 JD 70 gas that I would like to convert to electronic ignition because cylinder #1 fouls up the plug in about 1-1.5 hours of use, no matter if it is running a grain auger, or just running a box scraper, i.e. I have tried the hottest plug (the ones from New York),and have had no better results than the hottest Motorcraft, AC, etc. etc. After cleaning up the plug either through a little sandblast, or wire wheel, the tractor starts and runs perfect---plenty of power until it fouls up, and the cycle continues. I would like to know what kind of results anyone has had converting a JD 2 cylinder with positive ground over to electronic ignition. What is the difficulty of conversion for someone like me that has never done electronic conversion before?

Brian

Either the rings or valves or guides are bad in number one cylinder. Plugs and spark won't help.

The fouling is lowering the voltage required to make the plug fire, Increasing the available voltage may not make a difference that is satisfying (or very effective). If it is rings that are an issue. or stuck rings on one cylinder, an anti fouling adapter might make a substantial difference. When it begins to foul that plug, use insulated pliers to pull the wire off of the plug about 1/4 inch. If it then runs, resistor plugs might help. Some pull the rubber boot a ways off the plug to allow that gap to increase the voltage enough to fire through the fouling. Try these ideas before going to the expense of the ignition system changes. all good standard coils will produce plenty of volts it is the fouling that does it. It will require a rebuild to actually fix it. Jim

I would agree, EI will not be any help on this, need to correct the fouling issue.

There is a company in Colorado. Will sell you a ign. And a hotter coil. It will make a difference. Have a WD45 that would foul plugs. Put a 40000 volt coil on about 20 yrs ago. Same plugs today. These guys may be mistaken.

Oil fouling ? wet and oily. Too rich fouling dry and black sooty. Antifreeze fouling wet and tastes sweet.

Hello 721BSCHMIDT,

Set the plug gap wider by .010 or so, woukd not surprise me if it makes a big difference. Do it to all the plugs if multi cylinder.


Guido.

i would check the compression, as the engine may tired already and no type of hotter spark or plug will fix that. a compresssion check is the first thing to do.

When you finally spend the $$ and get the EI, just install it with no other changes. Then tell us if it helped your fouling problem. Then put on your "hot coil" and tell us again if it solved the problem. Test it/diagnose it progressively so we will all learn something. I have yet to see a stand alone EI cure a single fouling plug. It simply can't. Most don't just convert and leave everything else alone to see results...because they they know there won't be any. Post back with results. I'm not above apologizing if I am wrong.

Have you tried a 12 volt coil?

I'm going with Rust-red on this one .

I use my 1941 A on pretty light duty, snow plowing, loader work, or running a wood splitter. It has the original low compression pistons, new rings about 15 years ago and slight cylinder wear, but uses no oil and doesn't smoke. I had a fouling problem, especially in winter--never got warmed up even after a couple hours running. I switched from a mag(good hot Wico) to electronic ignition about 10 years ago. Much smother idle, almost no plug fouling. I used to clean plugs every week or two, now it's maybe once a year. If you have a torch, stand the fouled plug up in a vise, run a small tip and excess oxygen flame. Heat around the plug insulator and it'll come out as clean and white as new. It works for me.

You more than likely have a 2 barrel carb on it. One side of the carb could be running too rich and causing it to foul out. Have you tried the "proper" way of adjusting the carb?

If you keep throwing hotter plugs at it you may hole the piston. You need an ignition that rebuilds the engine for you.

Have you run an antifouler on it yet?

Fouling a plug is usually the result of excessive wear somewhere or a mixture problem.
Worn parts like piston rings, valve seals, valve guides, and even a cracked head or cylinder are things that can cause fouling on the mechanical end of things. Too rich of a mixture is another possibility.
In any case, I would look at electronic ignition as something that you may want or like, but I sincerely doubt that it will fix your problem.

Bear in mind that the tractor has run for over half of a century without electronic ignition, and most likely has not had fouling problems until within the last 5 or 10 years. My humble opinion is that it may be nice to have, but it probably will not fix your problem.

I am overwhelmed with the great comments from many of you on my fouled up plug issue on my 70 gas. Seriously, there are some great minds on this website, and I am glad I have posted my tractor problem here. My tractor is in the corner of a cold shed for the winter, but I am anxious to get it in a warm shop, and hopefully began to apply some of these ideas. I will began with the simple and cheap concept, and can always step up to the difficult and spendy as I go along. I thank all of you for your input. If there is any newcomer to this discussion, my ears are still open. Happy New Year to all!

Brian

As others have said, the electronic ignition will not likely solve the problem.

This type electronic conversion, the Pertronix brand sold here, are simply a "point eliminator" product. They are not the "flame thrower" ignition systems offered for performance enhancement. (That won't fix your problem either, just create more ignition problems.)

The conversion kits are very easy to install, are forgiving of a "less than perfect" distributor as for shaft bushing wear, and very dependable. The biggest advantage is the elimination of points and condenser, that are getting harder to find that are any good straight out of the box!

The disadvantage is they are polarity and voltage specific. Once installed, you have to be very careful not to reverse the battery polarity or jump start with 12 volts (if 6v system).

As for the plug fouling, some things to look for:

Look at the color of the plug. If it is flat black, covered evenly in black soot, that is a sign of running too rich. Also black smoke (before it fouls) is a sign of too rich. Causes are flooding carb, restricted air cleaner, choke not fully opening, improper jetting or adjustment.

Again, looking at the plug. If the fouling is gloss black, clumpy, stringy, splattered black deposits, that is a sign of oil fouling. Worn or stuck rings will show as blue smoke (before it fouls) under load. Ring problems will also show as as excess crankcase blow-by, sticky wet oil deposits in and around the tailpipe.

Worn valve guides will show blue smoke upon start up, idle, and coasting down.

One other cause can be a blown head gasket into the pushrod area of the head. If that is the case, that cylinder will be weak even with a fresh plug, and will progressively get worse the more it is run, to the point that cylinder won't fire at all. You can pull the valve cover, start it up and look/listen for leakage.

And then there is "water fouling", coolant splattering the plug. That will show as steaming out the exhaust, overheating, and mysterious loss of coolant. Caused by leaking head gasket or cracked head

A compression test will also be helpful.

Hope this helps, keep us informed!

As previously stated, treating the symptom rather than the cause.
195F coolant and a properly adjusted carb are the first two steps.
Autolite 3116 plugs btw or any other non resistor plug. Careful the parts counter person will want to cross reference to a resistor 368 or 388 and tell you it is the "same".