Optical ignition?

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GGress

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I bought a 64 Valiant last summer and just this winter pulled the distributor cap off. Found something I have no experience with, optical pickup.

Anyone know anything about this?

optical ignition.jpg
 
That may be an ACCELs version of a Pertronix . work fine. Probably better than the old point system.
 
It runs fine, the slotted wheel is rubbing on the pickup, if that's what it's called. I wouldn't want it to give up on me miles from nowhere.
 
That is the Accel Copy of the Mallory Unilite that is a replacement for the points in that distributor.

Do yourself a massive favor and get a Mallory 29371 and get it on there.

It goes in line between the wires coming out of the distributor and the harness. It will protect the unilite from dirty power, shitty grounds and other electrical voodoo and hobgoblins.

Never ever jump the engine with the unilite hooked up. Or start the engine with a battery charger hooked up.

The power off that **** will kill the module so fast your head will spin.

Treat it right and the unilite will outlive you.

Don’t press your luck.
 
That takes me back to the 80s.

Had one in my 289 and 351W, worked great, my only concern was the rotor was unique and a replacement would be hard to get in the middle of nowhere
 
Dana67Dart said:
That takes me back to the 80s.

Had one in my 289 and 351W, worked great, my only concern was the rotor was unique and a replacement would be hard to get in the middle of nowhere
Click to expand...


Funny you mention that. I started using the Unilite in 1982. I never lost a module or anything.

Then in 2104 I had just finished the engine and I took it out for a short drive.

I barely got my foot in it and I had a huge miss and then it quit.

I thought I killed something big but I pulled the cap and the rotor had come loose, worked on the screw some more and then it fractured part of the rail holding it in and the spun the wire side ways.

Never seen that before. Now I pull the screw, use a touch of loctite on it and I use gorilla glue on top of it to keep it from getting loose.

Just a strange thing.
 
Personal, non-professional advice, based on general experience with a variety of aftermarket electronic ignitions over the years:

Carry a spare set of points, condenser, points wire, cap, and rotor in the trunk.
If you come across a spare distributor, you can even have everything mounted on a spare plate, with the points pre-adjusted.

There's nothing wrong with optical ignition triggers, but you never know when a 30 or 40 year old piece of electronics will fail, and it's nicer to be able to install spare parts and get back on the road, than it is to sit around waiting for a tow.

– Eric
 
Yellow is Accel. A LED on one side and a light sensitive diode on the other. That triggers the spark. The systems are either mechanical (points), magnetic, or light.
 
GGress said:
Anyone have a clue where to get a new rotor?
Click to expand...

You have two options. New old stock on fleabag or somewhere on the web.

Go to Holley.com and under brands look up Accel and see if they have anything. If not, look under Mallory and see what they have.

I didn’t look real close but if you have a vacuum advance distributor it can be more problematic to find a rotor.

I know the Mallory VA distributor rotor with a Unilite is impossible. I made up a spacer to raise the module so you can use a non VA rotor on a VA distribution.

Of course that’s with a Mallory distributor. I’d have to see different pictures of yours to see if it would work.
 
Been to Holley, nothing in the way of Accel rotor/shutters, they still sell the kits, so maybe Mallory will interchange.
 
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