MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG Midget and Sprite Technical - electronic ignition

how easy is it to fit electronic ignition to mg 1500 andwhich is thebest to buy?
man thanks!
b woon

real easy if you buy one of the accuspark units.

I fitted a pertronix ignitor in less than an hour to my 1275.

Check out http://www.simonbbc.com/electronic-ignition-kits?sort=20a&filter_id=23
Great value as the price seems to be tumbling!!

MGmike
M McAndrew

123 ignition with 16 advance curves is less than one hour, the curves are very useful with modern fuel and the fuels yet to come... (now 5% alcohol and increasing due to the government). Changing a curve takes 10 minutes.

no more overheating of the coil
spark on time even with some scatter in the drive train
gearshift retard

I am very content with the 123 and I had an other luminition before. Cheaper but I prefer 123.



Flip
Flip Brühl 948 frog 59

I've had a few electonic igniters the last was an Aldon fitted inside the dissy cap good but that still leaves a usually very worn dissy

swapped to 123 full electronic dissy more expensive but very worth while much better

a word of warning if you fit a electronic head inside present dissy be very careful that the delicate wires can't be snagged on installation or during use otherwise you can get intermitent and difficult to find problems - threads about this problem on here and elsewhere are not that rare
Nigel Atkins

My vote goes to the 123tune. Fantastic piece of kit.
Dave
Dave Brown

I think Flip(?) and I have the standard non tuneable pre-set 123 but if buying again I’d happily consider the tuneable (unfortunately you can’t upgrade only replace) - http://www.mgcars.org.uk/peterburgess/123.html

to get the best obviously you want your car fully serviced and tappets set but then to really get the best it on the rolling road, then it’s fit and forget unless you change things on the engine

I can recommend Peter Burgess for this at excellent value - http://www.mgcars.org.uk/peterburgess/newrollingroad.html
Nigel Atkins

I fitted accuspark on my 1500. Easy job that took about 30 minutes to do and you don't need much more than a screw driver to do it. Works like a charm and cost about £30. Very pleased with it. Smoother run, smoother idle and no more adjusting the breaker points.

Which kit that is the best buy probably depends on what you are looking for. Price and easy installation, I'd say accuspark is a good way to go. 123 programmable is probably better if you want to go with the cool stuff and fine tune everything but it comes with a price.

So, decide why you are doing it and how much you want to spend.
E Lindgren

it depends on whether you want to improve on the CB points and have a reconned/rebuilt dissy already

or if you want to upadte and modernised the whole dissy

then there's what you're prepared to pay

I don't think you'll save much running costs money by fitting a 123 because you'll drive the car more and probably a bit quicker
Nigel Atkins

Pertronix on mine... Installation was quite simple, and the only fiddly bit was having to reset the timing afterward. It's worked flawlessly for several years now.

-:G:-
Gryf Ketcherside

One point (no pun intended) to bear in mind is how worn the rest of the distributor is, in particular how stretched are the advance springs. As the advance springs stretch your timing may be correct at low speeds but you'll run out of advance to soon. This means at higher RPMs, where the engine should be making most power, you'll have insufficient advance and the engine will feel flat. When I fitted an electronic unit to my 1500 a couple of years ago I tightened up the springs and must have got it about right as the engine now loves to rev. I've also done the same on my B but in attempt to be a bit more scientific I've built a distributor test jig. I can now check the auto advance across the entire range and the vacuum advance, albeit I've yet to add a vacuum gauge to check it accurately.

Bob
R.A Davis

If you distributor is in good order and your engine spec is standard DO NOT buy a 123.
Get a set from simonbbc and be amazed over what you get for the money.

We had our GT on a 123 for over a year and it has since been replaced by a normal one with a simonbbc kit.
The car now pulls better and is more economical.
The 123 had been set up correctly and we tried several curves non matched the old distr

My midget runs on 123 and is rather modified.
I hate the design of the unit (especialy the location of the curve select thingy)
And hate the company for their communication with me when I wanted to upgrade to the 123 tune.
The unit works but that is all I'll say about it
Onno K

thNKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP AND ADVICE. REALLY HELPED ME SORT IT OUT....NOW TO GET READY FOR THE SUMMER!!
b woon

This thread was discussed between 03/01/2012 and 05/01/2012

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG Midget and Sprite Technical BBS is active now.