Show us some odd ignitions from the past

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E bay
 
I had an old fordson steel wheel tractor. It had 4 boxes on the side of the engine which somehow provided spark to the plugs. ??? It didn't have a water pump, just convection flow. If you hit a rock it would tear the steering wheel out of your hands.
 
pishta said:
MARK TEN B..
Poptronics-1974-09-OCR-Page-0017.pdf
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One was on my 1965 Newport "as found". The wiring was a simple add-on, most wires connecting at ignition coil as I recall. Couldn't figure if it was doing anything useful. I didn't notice a difference pushing the switch in and out, but perhaps the switch didn't work since didn't feel solid. Finally tossed it for a Crane Cams XR700 (slotted optical wheel pickup).
 
mine doesnt do anything special when I hit the button either but I know its connected as there is a miss when I push the button half way. I think my capacitor (storage component) is toast. The only thing I see on a VOM is about 4.5V to coil and about 9V to the coil when the ignition is "on". I know the VOM is the wrong tool but I have yet to get my O-scope on it, fearing potentially 300V will blow something in the scope. Its not that important to me unless a scope guy can tell me differently. My leads are cheap, 2GHz rated, no max voltage given.
 
LJ67barracuda340 said:
found these while rooting around for something else.

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Wasn’t that Magspark coil made only for a magneto system Mallory made back in the late 60’s or early 70’s? IIRC it was somehow two separate ignition systems and you fired the engine on what was a basically a battery fired system, then you flipped a switch and that made it run on the magneto?

IIRC they made that system for engines with conventional starters. They didn’t spin the engine fast enough with a conventional starter to get the engine reliably lit.

Pretty sure that’s how it worked, or close to that.
 
Rat Bastid said:
Wasn’t that Magspark coil made only for a magneto system Mallory made back in the late 60’s or early 70’s? IIRC it was somehow two separate ignition systems and you fired the engine on what was a basically a battery fired system, then you flipped a switch and that made it run on the magneto?

IIRC they made that system for engines with conventional starters. They didn’t spin the engine fast enough with a conventional starter to get the engine reliably lit.

Pretty sure that’s how it worked, or close to that.
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Thanks. Didnt know that but it also ran my 289 Falcon and my 318 Duster.
 
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Does this qualify? it is exotic per today's standards!

I keep it in the Glove box with the needed tiny ignition wrenches and 11 way driver to get me home if My Pertonix III should fail me!

Yes that is an unmolested Ballast to go with it!

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pishta said:
mine doesnt do anything special when I hit the button either but I know its connected as there is a miss when I push the button half way. I think my capacitor (storage component) is toast. The only thing I see on a VOM is about 4.5V to coil and about 9V to the coil when the ignition is "on". I know the VOM is the wrong tool but I have yet to get my O-scope on it, fearing potentially 300V will blow something in the scope. Its not that important to me unless a scope guy can tell me differently. My leads are cheap, 2GHz rated, no max voltage given.
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Don't you have a 10:1 probe? Some scopes will tolerate that kind of voltage "direct" just look at the "Volts per cm" or better yet what model/ brand is the scope?
 
pt70 said:
I had an old fordson steel wheel tractor. It had 4 boxes on the side of the engine which somehow provided spark to the plugs. ??? It didn't have a water pump, just convection flow. If you hit a rock it would tear the steering wheel out of your hands.
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Model T Ford Spark coils. The ORIGINAL "coil on plug" or "coil near plug" ignition. They have a buzzer device, and when supplied with power, will generate a continuous spark. When I was young---10? ish? I used to "rig" a T coil we had to my train transformer, and go out on the little sidewalk and "lightning bolt" insects. It would REALLY destroy an ant with a good hit

About 3:18.........

 
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67Dart273 said:
Don't you have a 10:1 probe? Some scopes will tolerate that kind of voltage "direct" just look at the "Volts per cm" or better yet what model/ brand is the scope?
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I have a modern Rigol digital scope and an HP analog. My probes are 2Ghz 1-10-100x if that matters. Thay motor is close to running again (my Mazda 2.0) so I'll give it a look once it's idling on its new head gasket and not pumping water into the oil...!
 
A 10x probe will likely get you there and a 100X probe for sure. Google the specs on the Rigol (you didn't give the model) For the HP just look at the input attenuator switch Here is a shot of an old OLD HP input attenuator. You can see the highest voltage is 20 and that is "per CM" (square) and on the scope it fits there's 8 CM so that's 20 X 8 + 160V peak. A 10:1 probe will get you 1600V. Just be DARN careful you have the probe set correctly, and don't "bump" the switch!!

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