Ignition Amplifier relocation kit
- Thread starter az_max
- Start date
The UK company that made the kits stopped making them. I installed one on my '95 LWB around 2016 and at the time you could source them from AB or the UK. IMO it's a necessary modification - all my IAM problems disappeared after a thorough ignition R&R, distributor rebuild, and this relocation kit.
Knocking on wood for luck as I write this. My entire ignition system was renewed in 2011 before shipping the ‘94 Rangie over to Switzerland. Drove it all over on and off road for 5 years there without any problems and shipped it back. It is now 2022 and still no issues with ignition amplifier module on the distributor. Hopefully next time I drive it all still will be ok!!
Welcome to my world. It’s scary to take in old cars like this where I work because of what you just found out. If I take one in and spend several hours diagnosing the thing just to find out the part it needs is NLA. How do I charge a guy for saying this is what it needs and your still fucked.
Maybe Will Tillery can help you out with a used bracket and dummy module and harness. I’m sure you can get the amplifier.
Your other option is to switch out the distributor with one made by TRW and there’s other manufacturers. I put a TRW unit in a Defender that was having issues. It worked great. But the problem with that is your going to spend way less time on the side of the road. So it’s going to take away from the Rover experience.
I have 1 OEM relocation bracket in my spare parts bin. I'm not sure I have the wiring harness to the dizzy, but for sure I know I have the bracket with small leads to the coil.
ptschram
Well-known member
ptschram
Well-known member
20 years ago I decided to make my own amplifier relocation setup.
The bastard sized terminals on the amp itself frustrated me to no end, in spite of having a HUGE electronics surplus shop nearly within sight of my first shop.
Thus was born the HEI project. The ‘93 LWB that bore an HEI amp didn’t miss a beat until the body rusted away!
just remember to use a HUGE heat sink for the amp as it will get HOT!
The bastard sized terminals on the amp itself frustrated me to no end, in spite of having a HUGE electronics surplus shop nearly within sight of my first shop.
Thus was born the HEI project. The ‘93 LWB that bore an HEI amp didn’t miss a beat until the body rusted away!
just remember to use a HUGE heat sink for the amp as it will get HOT!
A question for you, hoping your memory of that is intact:
- 4-pin HEI ignition amp or 6-pin, and
- did you need anything at all between the distributor signal output and HEI module to trigger it?
and, finally,
- did you need to adjust distributor timing between the factory and HEI ignition amp?
I'd gladly make a kit to use an HEI unit, but if a lot of fiddling is necessary, it would not be an easy field swap.
ptschram
Well-known member
It's been more than 15 years since I logged into POR.
Never mind, that's all I need to know!
its a drop in replacement. if it doesnt run right you got the pickup wiring backwards . lucas and hei likely use the same motorola mc3334 chip. early lucas electric ignition was actually a gm hei module in a lucas case
forums.jag-lovers.com
Lucas ignition amplifier parts
Hello everyone, it’s my first post here 😄 I’ve got 1985 xjs 5.3 HE with lucas ignition system. Recently I finally managed to start the car and drive a bit(I bought car on copart as not running, turned out it was caused by bad fuel pump, fuel filter, ecu, injector cables and transmission filter...
forums.jag-lovers.com
ptschram
Well-known member
Curious, but I doubt it is identical to our application given the enormous amount of heat generated by the HEI amp in our application.its a drop in replacement. if it doesnt run right you got the pickup wiring backwards . lucas and hei likely use the same motorola mc3334 chip. early lucas electric ignition was actually a gm hei module in a lucas case
View attachment 63175
Lucas ignition amplifier parts
Hello everyone, it’s my first post here 😄 I’ve got 1985 xjs 5.3 HE with lucas ignition system. Recently I finally managed to start the car and drive a bit(I bought car on copart as not running, turned out it was caused by bad fuel pump, fuel filter, ecu, injector cables and transmission filter...
I considered adding a current limiting resistor, assuming the impedance of the Lucas pickup coil is less than that of the HEI.
Now that I think of it, I know the impedance of the Lucas pickup is in the ETM and I’m certain if I took even a nanosecond, I could find the impedance of the HEI pickup coil as well
I rarely exhibit laziness and even more rarely admit to it, in this case, I had achieved my goal!
W/R/T wiring the amp incorrectly, if one wires it backwards, it will blow a fuse! That is a pretty good indication something is wrong
ive used a snuff can lid as a heatsink to get home when an msd box failed. my experience has been that it doesn't require any more of a heatsink than the lucas one does. i ran one for years screwed to a flat piece of aluminum that was riveted to the factory 95 d1 bracket
the pickup waveform is buffered. inline resistor isnt going to do anything to the dwell time.
the pickup waveform is buffered. inline resistor isnt going to do anything to the dwell time.
All this is why they always told us the grease under the module was very important. They said it was for heat dissipation.
That’s from when I was a kid working for Oldsmobile.
That’s from when I was a kid working for Oldsmobile.
ptschram
Well-known member
I wasn’t worried about dwell time
I WAS worried after I burned myself up n the first amp I worked with that wasn’t equipped with a heat sink
The current limiting resistor was mentioned to reduce the (over) heating of the amplifier.
the four pin amp has no ability to control anything, that requires the HEI amps with more pins and an ECU to control it
ptschram
Well-known member
Well...
Hoping to resolve the -55% long term fuel trim issue, I swapped in a brand new ignition amplifier from Bearmach last Friday.
Fuel trim issue didn't have time to get resolved - the module died on Sunday afternoon.
The old ignition module is back in, ONLY until the Pertronix GM-4-pin-style module and heat sink arrive.
The 14CUX ignition setup is an amazing collection of junk parts.
Hoping to resolve the -55% long term fuel trim issue, I swapped in a brand new ignition amplifier from Bearmach last Friday.
Fuel trim issue didn't have time to get resolved - the module died on Sunday afternoon.
The old ignition module is back in, ONLY until the Pertronix GM-4-pin-style module and heat sink arrive.
The 14CUX ignition setup is an amazing collection of junk parts.