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Converting a military ignition to civvy.....

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2016 11:36 pm
by Czechsix
So what's involved?

Coil, cap, rotor, wires and plugs? Regular civilian hafi parts will work? Or?

I'm already running a Pertronix so that's less of an issue, I guess. Will probably go with Jim's Bosch regulator mod too, come to think of it.

Any "gotcha's" to look out for?

Re: Converting a military ignition to civvy.....

Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2016 12:54 am
by Goatwerks
It is easiest to make a set of conversion wires from 1 of the old wires(screw to cap w/civi plug ends). You can buy single plug wires at Autozone or Napa and custom fit to cap.

Re: Converting a military ignition to civvy.....

Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2016 1:51 am
by Czechsix
Good idea.

I might convert to just a regular civvy coil though....still have to test the milspec one and see if it's fried/open/toasted

Re: Converting a military ignition to civvy.....

Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2016 4:16 am
by Goatwerks
replacement coil should be more than 3 ohms for Pertronix. VW beetle coil works well(bosch blue), they average 3.7-4.0 ohms.

Re: Converting a military ignition to civvy.....

Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2016 7:51 am
by heinkeljb
If you intend to sell the beast at some point, it might be worth hanging on to all the Military spec ignition system untouched as an added selling point. You can replace the coil with the VW one as above, buy new HT leads and caps, spark plugs.
That only leaves you with what to do with the distributor - I think you have to replace the whole things as I don't think you can just put a Civilian distributor on top of the Military distributor base. You can obviously just alter the current HT leads to have civilian caps on the relevant ends but can you go back the other way if required? I don't know.

Maybe you could make up a short "converter" section of HT lead to from the VW coil to the centre contact which doesn't involve butchering the existing cable just so you can run the engine whilst you get the military coil tested.

John