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In my quest to fix a bunch of stuff that was never broken on my 710m, I decided to install the EI ignition conversion kit. I have (I think) 93.4% of the work completed, and wanted to ask a few questions and relax with a beer before continuing. As a bit of a disclaimer, I'm born of a world with coil packs and coil-on-plug cars... so the land of distributors and carbs is all new to me!

Oh Pinz experts, lend me a hand....

(1) I have a red & black wire coming from the new ignitor. I assume the black wire needs a spade terminal and installation to the negative (-) side of the new coil. Correct?

(2) Does the new red wire need to be tapped into a hot power source (+)? Uhhh... where? There doesn't seem to be that much slack on it -- maybe 16 inches.

(3) That leaves me with 1x military connector coming from (I assume) the noise suppressor. Does it get sent to the positive (+) side of the new coil?

(4) Inside my distributor, I've got the magnet and setup height all confirmed. Yeah! But, there was one very odd looking 'offset' screw/plug near the end of the spacer plate. It was tiny. It wasn't threaded on the other side, and basically "fell out". I have it still --- but don't see a similar screw in the EI videos anywhere. What is it? What does it do? How do I reinstall it?

Thank everyone in advance!

No expert, but did it last year- great cheap upgrade.

(1) I have a red & black wire coming from the new ignitor. I assume the black wire needs a spade terminal and installation to the negative (-) side of the new coil. Correct? Yes

(2) Does the new red wire need to be tapped into a hot power source (+)? Uhhh... where? There doesn't seem to be that much slack on it -- maybe 16 inches. Hot line from the ignition switch and red wire from ignitor go to (+) on coil

(3) That leaves me with 1x military connector coming from (I assume) the noise suppressor. Does it get sent to the positive (+) side of the new coil? I think you are refering to the condensor line? If so, just tape it up, you don't need it unless you go back to points.

(4) Inside my distributor, I've got the magnet and setup height all confirmed. Yeah! But, there was one very odd looking 'offset' screw/plug near the end of the spacer plate. It was tiny. It wasn't threaded on the other side, and basically "fell out". I have it still --- but don't see a similar screw in the EI videos anywhere. What is it? What does it do? How do I reinstall it?

Got me there- I'll look at the diagram and try to figure it out.

Last minute tips- Make sure the magnet is flush with the top of the ignitor (it looks about right in your pic)
Triple check the fitment of your modified rotor button before locking it all down.

#11? If so, you don't need that little guy- part of the point system.

#8 is the little piece that came out.

The noise supresor just gets taped off entirely?

Ugg! Thank you dogslovetrucks. I missed your wiring diagram when browsing on my phone.

I'll give it a whirl tomorrow morning. Thank you again!

You've probably seen this but just in case: http://www.expedition-imports.com/c=qZd ... x_install/

#8 is a cam used to adjust the points, as your distributor is now without points #8 becomes pointless also.

Or to put it another way put #8 in the same spares box you put your old points in, just in case you need to convert back to points ignition if the Petronix unit fails out in the woods.

As always keep your old parts as back-ups.

Whoo hoo! All fired up and running. Idle seems ok, but searching -- so I'm sure the next step is to pull out a timing light.

FWIW, there are three things I'd amend to the standard "how to" :

1) If using a new coil, instead of the military one, pull both the red and black wires all the way through the Chinese handcuff shroud. There's no need to poke one through the side.

2) Heat shrink tubing on the exposed wire, ahead of the spade connectors is a good idea.

3) Power to the coil arrives from the noise suppressor. Remove the old military connector, install a spade connector and attach to the (+) side of the coil. This all seems pretty obvious -- but for as wonderful as the videos were (excellent BTW!) this last step was missing. I assume its because EI intends the video for both new coil users, and old military coil users.

Quick update:

Fired up a timing light this morning and found things were actually pretty decent. I needed some very minor rotation of the distributor to put everything nice and smooth. The start up and idle is considerably smoother. Once the advance kicks in, the engine seems to have smoother revs, and perhaps a bit more power. It would be nice if the crank pulley had more markings on it, but for the level of agricultural precision found in this engine, I think we're in great shape. FWIW, my distributor offered no meaningful fight when I loosened the clamp, and was nice and easy to adjust.


Naturally, as I was putting the seats back in, I broke off the choke cable.... Two steps forward, one back!

Measure the crank pulley on the out side (the surface the TDC mark is on) divide by 360 , I use a white out pen and a metric ruler to put marks where i want them.

I used white spray paint and a slot cut into a piece of cardboard for marking the TDC notch. I have a strobe that is programable for above and below TDC, for my altitude (+5000 ft) it is between 6 to 8 deg. I do lose a bit of power at +10,000 ft, also a bit less air for the carbs up there.