help with ignition system

[camnefdt]

Hi all

busy doing research for an ignition system to put on a v8 engine that i want to make, but getting a little confused with how everything works and so forth.

hopefully someone can help me out, but my understanding is that, you have a coil to change the input voltage to the high voltage required for the spark. thats connected to the center of the distributor, which is connected to a spindle in the center which will rotate and touch the specific contact point and send a spark to the relative plug?

Cam

 

[camnefdt]

if it really is that 'simple' i was thinking of a design using a cam to push pins against the contact points, working much in the way like the cam pushes the pins to open/close the valves. . . would this work?

 

[Swift752]

if it really is that 'simple' i was thinking of a design using a cam to push pins against the contact points, working much in the way like the cam pushes the pins to open/close the valves. . . would this work?

What you are talking about is a distributor. Your system would fail very fast. The high tension spark would very quickly eat up the pin. FAST! Just allow the high tension electricity to jump a small gap between the distributor rotor and the individulual plug contact. Look up how a distributor works. The rotor contact is brass and the plug contact is carbon. Works well tjhat way. Don't go reinventing the wheel when it isn't becessary. This is 100 year old proven technology. LMK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributor

Swift 752

 

[camnefdt]

Well I wouldn't use a pin, more like a brass rod (rather thick, like 5mm) just think it would be more accurate and precise

 

[Swift752]

Well I wouldn't use a pin, more like a brass rod (rather thick, like 5mm) just think it would be more accurate and precise

Cars used to use a steel rotor contact and a brass distributor cap contact but they found that carbon was far superior for the cap though later w/ better then solid state systems they went back to steel for the cap. As for accuracy, the spark jumps when the contacts are close enough. Too close and they burn. Too far apart and no spark. Accuracy has little to do with it just so long as the gap is correct. But timing has evertything to do with it. If you are saying that you want the brass pin to be spring loaded and move back and forth, the thing will probably float at any speed above idle. Did you go to the site I gave you? Shows what I'm talking about. Also, you can't have the high voltage contacts touching as they will weld themselves together! Now for the actual system, the coil jumps the low voltage to a high voltage but what actually makes the spark happen is when the points OPEN the low voltrage circuit. When this happens the filed holding the high voltage collapses and looks for ground. Thus the spark. The spark is made when the points are OPENED. Get it? Ok? Swift752