Magneto ignition...

[Benyon]

I have recently been in contact with the DVLA to get a list of previous owners and have been lucky enough to get a repsonse from a gentlenman who had my van in the 70's. He did all his own work and by account of his letter was quite handy with his spanners - he has a 1500 60hp VW engine he toyed with and stuck on the back of a boat on 3.5ft stilts with the prop tips spinning just below the speed of sound!!

Anyway, he has offered me a Scintilla Magneto which fots a VW engine and in his words: "...would not require a battery for the ignition and a push start with no battery would fire up the engine, it gives a considerably better and more efficient spark than a usual coil ignition..."

Anyone know of these?

 

[Loxy]

Used to be popular with the hi-po drage race/cal look vdub engine guys if I recall correctly, gives a high energy spark at low rpm.
Originally used on stationary engines - popular with armies etc, not sure if they are really suitable for a daily driven stocker though.

 

[ant]

they have just been on about them on "salvage squad" there was one fitted to a 1930's fire truck.... so thats proper old school technology.

 

[Loxy]

Just found some more info in Keith Seumes Aircooled VW engine interchange manual.
Useful in hipo engines that dont have charging circuits.

Says it isnt suitable for a car that is driven with varying revs as the advance curve is wrong (although I am sure I read somewhere that you can modify them).
Used by NATO countries - can suffer from poor storage causing problems when hot.

Two types of vertex/scintilla magnetos: OAC which has power coil incorporated into body & the newer OXC which has an external transformer.
OXC produces ~ 20% more energy than OAC (OAC produces 540 volts @ 10,000rpm).

Need to support the body of the magneto if used as they are bigger & heavier than stock dizzy.

Is he selling or giving it away? if its free then might be worth having it just to try it out? could always sell it on.

 

[Loxy]

pic of an engine with one here:
http://67callook.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Benyon]

Cheers Loxy

Yeah he was offering it for free if I collect it from Nottingham. In another part of his letter (where he's powering a wooden boat with the VW engine) he says he was going to build a light airplane powered by the same engine but never got round to it which is obviously why he has a pair of magnetos.

I think if I did fetch it I would never do anything with it so will jus thank him for his kind offer. Would a more modern coil (Igniter?) not provide as much spark anyway?

As mentioned above his technology is a little old, he mentioned he fitted electronic ignition back in the 70's but doesn't think it can still be bought.

 

[ronmidg]

thought the benefit of magnetos was simplicity and reliability, but have fixed advance so more suited to single operating condition like dragsters and lawnmowers, not much use for street?