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Quick question about distributors on RV8

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2019 9:04 pm
by Captainbeaky
I have a 3.5 “flapper” Eli with a dud distributor and dodgy flapper valve.
Will the later dizzy off a Hotwire 3.9 physically fit this engine?

I will be using megasquirt so don’t need the advance curve to be right, just the spark distribution function of the distributor.

Re: Quick question about distributors on RV8

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 8:55 am
by DaveEFI
Pretty certain it will fit. But if you're going to control the timing with MegaSquirt, I'd go wasted spark. A Quadraspark unit for MS and a couple of EDIS coils. Trigger wheel and sensor kits are easy to get. And gets rid of the problems with dizzy cap and rotor arm.

If you lock the dizzy to give a TDC tach signal, you have to get the phasing right as the rotor arm no longer tracks the advance curve, which was a bit tricky when I tried it.

Re: Quick question about distributors on RV8

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 9:19 am
by sidecar
Locking a standard dizzy up will require a bit of 'thinking', I used my MIG welder but there would be other ways to do it, Basically with the engine running with its least advance you will want the trailing edge of the rotor arm to be just about in line with the trailing edge of the HT post that is supposed to be firing. Then as the system advances to you get a 'better' over lap between the HT post and the rotor arm.