PowerArc Anomaly "Update"

Ok you dealt direct with Gray and have his C4 curve unit. He told me about the Norton dragsters and such using up to 36' full advance, which makes me pensive of his sales pitch on other things as I've never heard of a hot fast burn Norton that needed or tolerated that much advance. i am relieved to know you just needed to toggle up the supplied curves to get good performance. Dyno testes can't hardly detect wasted vs single spark ignitions differences.

I may be the only Luddite on this thread, but I also live by the principle that sometimes the enemy of "good" is "better". Maybe I need to change my user name to "casual rider" or "geezer rider that drives an old Buic" and add the reflective "slow vehicle" triangle on the back.
I have three bikes that run fine with contact breaker points, one with a manual advance on the handlebar; still have a dwell meter, brass feeler gauges and points files. Easy to file burnt points on the side of the road. Spare points, plug wires and coils are cheap and ubiquitous. I've got a box of them. Damn, I got 450 hp out of my '68 Corvette with points, a single $10 coil, eight off the whelf spark plug wires and spark plugs.
I first used a Boyer on a Triumph with the "energy transfer" system; a total POS ignition system designed by Satan and the Boyer has been solid as a rock. Then I put one on my Trident because it took all afternoon to gap three sets of points and time them; the Boyer has still has been a rock. Boyer may not be the best, but I always madee it home.
I had a Harley ignition fail in the middle of Wyoming (150 miles from the nearest dealer) on a weekend; stone cold dead. I had to pay for a towtruck to come rewcue me. After that, I carried a complete set of replacement parts in my saddle bag on long journeys (like northern Canada). I had a Hinckley Triumph ignition module fail in Swink, Colorado (middle of nowhere, three hours from home) on a Sunday. Totally dead in the water. I was riding another of my bikes and had loaned the Tiger to a freind and rode the HD home and returned with the truck to rescue it. I think I had another Hinckley (Trophy) Triumph ignition module (made in Japan) fail, but close to home though still had to get the truck and trailer to get it home, then to the Dealer.
I have the original Lucas Rita on my '79 Bonneville, which has never let me down; go figure.
If I were on a racetrack and I wanted the ultimate performance, I might consider a $300+ electronic ignition. If it failed, then my crew can push the bike back to the pits and take care of it. If I rode my Commando with the ultimate speed parts, I'll have to carry bail money. Getting caught at the ton is an automatic night in jail here and loss of driving license. I got rid of my go fast bikes because... I went way too fast. Sadly, I once watched the State Patrol load a Bimota by dragging it on its side onto the back of a wrecker with a chain winch while the rider was sitting handcuffed in the back of the patrol car. Double the pain.
Don't get me entirely wrong, the IE system being discussed looks elegant and intelligent in design.
For me, the best ignition is the most reliable and lowest maintenance.
Memo to self: throw the extra Boyer box in the saddlebag before I go to Wyoming.
Please don't take offence. I know a lot of you have high zoot bikes and I am at the low end of the performance scale and at the low end of the sophistication scale.

I'd still be using my points if the AAU wasn't worn out and the Pazon wasn't cheaper to replace. But I think it does run a bit smoother with the EI vs. the variable dwell AAU. At least it still looks the same.

christulin said:

I may be the only Luddite on this thread.......

Click to expand...

I would not read you post as being from a Luddite at all....this is all very interesting....I was looking at the Power Arc system...and I am a bit cold over it at the moment...so I am planning a different approach...I am buiding a race bike...from scratch after many years away....there are various systems in use.....but from 40 years back the Boyer is still there....alongside a Pazon offering...we used to have, points, Boyer or Luca Rita, I had the Lucas item as an ex works team installation cut away timing cover and all.....it wasn't failure free and I would have like a spare box....but it was delivering better performance than the Boyer, particularly for starting, which since that meant pushing was pretty important.....

Now you can have a range of trick ignitions and yoy can programme it yourself, but i need to get from a new build to a running show and then develop, so my approach is going to be....fit a proven analog system (Boyer or Pazon) and get the thing running to a satisfactory standard. Pretty good chance this will be crank mounted not cam! but I am not rigid o that one yet. Then make sure that whatever else I do I have that set up in the box, and ready to be refitted, even between dyno runs....then get myself a digital programmable unit and experiment, coming back to the baseline to confirm improvements are actually real. Which programmable.....well more research nearer the time, but it is difficult to ignore the Czech system (Ignitech) on price, particularly if I have already gone crank mount.

But having the insurance of a good analogue set up in the box ain't being a Luddite, it is a racer trying to get finishes, in the same way you are a long distance rider making sure he gets home.....good plan....

As for the Power Arc, I think the potential is huge, and I would love to hear if it has been tried on the crank, but it is difficult to choose to invest in a high end optical system (even if I think that shoud in the end be the best solution for a pick up!) if there a questions over the mechanical viability (narrow slots combined with chain float), and the tri-sparking.....

Optical pick ups are proven in 4 cylinder distributors with lower rotation speeds, but from some of the observations here tri-spark seems like it may be potentially be counter productive when accuracy and consistency of spark is your aim....

Hobot, I am not sure I buy into your concern that anything less than a fully programmable system will blow your fancy motor.....and surely by that logic, if you get the program wrong on a programmable system, you are going to get the same reaction! and none of the curves in the box will have been developed for your application.....so why would they be right for you?

In ordinary Cdo's, except for the AAU wearing out there's little reason to go to an electro brain for me, but AAU's do wear out and as expensive as electro brain sparker kit to buy the few new ones remaining. I've a box of AAU's to one day have shop restore to keep the points faith going.

If Peel was ordinary racer or ordinary cruiser about any ignition would work, as long as I stuck with a set octane and just carb or just blower but I want her to work lugging in loose steeps loaded to the gills w/o boost and unloaded for drags or track play with boost up around 17 CR on pump gas and creek water. We have the various ignition curves graphed out to mimic for ordinary engines/useage and there are known factors to compensate for octane and CR and engine temps, plus Peel's will be metered and knock sensor-ed so can creep up on best curve per conditions. Peel's powerarc and 'puter connection cost $500 back in 2006. One big sales point was the rpm limiter that is a rare option with extra cost on other options. Will be depressed if I run into the issues reported so far.

I put in my Power Arc and it seems to be running flawlessly. Here is what I did that I think could be making a difference on my bike. ('72 Combat 6500 miles.)











I had this little part made by a machinist buddy. He does really accurate work and I pay him real money. The picture of the bushing supplied by Old Britts with the extra 3/8 brass bushing and lock washer was my first attempt at getting everything centered up real good. It actually worked very well but the tapered piece is so solid and accurate that I am going with it. My unit is the 4 curve one that will fire the coils one at a time. No wasted spark. I have also made a stainless steel bracket for the individual coils sold by Old Britts and am in the process of offering to build them for Fred and Ella.

I can supply the tapered bushing for about $50 if any one is interested.

Notice the 5/16 thread in the tapered unit for using a puller.
Dan.

Very good sticking with it Dan, We all like to hear "Flawlessly' good, cool. I'll take one of your working friend's pieces. What model designation do you have?

Motorson, I have a power arc and might like to get in on one of your tapered pieces, I'm away from my bike at the moment doing contract work but it's nice to know that they're out there. Thx for posting your offer. Cj