With the onset of the cold weather (and an apology to my friends in Australia, who will have to wait a season or two before you can use this information), my attention is now focused on the morning ritual of starting the car.
My car (a '67 1600) is in reasonably good shape. It has a rebuilt cylinder head, new battery, and good compression. When it is cold (from being left out of the garage overnight), it takes 5-10 seconds of cranking to start the car. Of course, that is unacceptable ;-)
Here are the facts:
I decided to think things through, and do some measurements. One little- known fact about this year of Roadster is that there is no ballast resistor shunt circuit. Most modern cars have a special circuit which is used only when starting the car (in other words, only when the ignition switch is causing the starter motor to turn). The purpose of this circuit is to bypass the ballast resistor and apply full battery voltage to the coil while the starter is running, because the starter pulls the battery voltage down considerably.
The other avenue of research I embarked on was to test the voltage at the coil. Here was what I found:
I decided two enhancements were in order. First, I needed a ballast resistor shunt that was active only during starting, and second, I needed to provide smoother voltage input to the coil. To solve the first problem, I bought a Hella headlight relay, and mounted it right by the coil (actually on the coil clamp). This relay has four connections, and the circuit diagram looks like this:
______________________
| ------------| Ballast Resistor |-------o Coil o--DIST--- Ground
| | |______________________| |
| | |
| | |
| ---------|====|------------
| |SWCH|
__ |COIL|
|__|--------------------|WWWW|------- Ground
Ignition Switch Hella Relay
The secret is to find the wire on your ignition switch which goes to the
starter solenoid and tap into it. Run the new wire to the relay, which is
connected to the two ends of the ballast resistor. The relay simply shorts
across the resistor, removing it from the circuit, but only when the
starter is cranking. You may wonder why I did not simply hook the wire to
the coil side of the ballast resistor. The reason is that a circuit would
be formed from there back through the starter solenoid, which would kill
the ignition.
To solve the second problem, I purchased a surplus Mallory capacitor, I chose a 50,000 MFD 16v capacitor, which is about the size of a small water glass. I hooked the capacitor up between the input side of the coil and ground. I mounted the capacitor above the heater plenum inside the car where it would be sheltered from the elements, and ran a wire out to the ballast resistor, connecting it to the end which went to the coil. This capacitor is large enough to smooth the voltage going to the coil, producing a .2 volt ripple where there was 1.7 volts before. While the coil is being charged, the capacitor pitches in and provides extra energy that the ballast resistor would have otherwise blocked. When the coil is nearly charged, the capacitor continues to draw through the resistor until it is charged as well. The principle here is that the current through the ballast resistor is limited, causing a voltage drop when the coil "wants" power, and the capacitor provides extra power during that time. The overall effect is that the coil "sees" less of a restriction on amperage when it needs power, but there is no change in the peak voltage when it does not.
I am sure by now you want to know the most important thing - did it work? It Sure Did!! The car starts better, idles better, and drives better.
WARNING: I do not recommend these modifications to anyone. There are so many ways you could make mistakes and make your car less reliable, or create dangerous conditions with potential for sparks and fire. It is also possible that these modification could damage parts of your ignition system. If you attempt to duplicate my enhancements, please do so at your own risk, and be careful! Finally, do not expect these enhancements to help if you have other problems with your car, such as mechanical problems with the starter, bad timing, or faulty ignition components. Carburetor adjustments must be correct as well.
Note: The Allison Ignition System is now marketed by Crane Cams. Here is the installation guide. See the Crane Cams Site for more info.
David Butcher davidbu at www.los-gatos.ca.us Tel (408) 978-5495 Los Gatos, California 95030