Mallory Digital CDI box

[TomStark]

I use my cart for plowing snow only. In Michigan, you can make a cart street legal, but ONLY an electric cart, gas carts not street legal. So, because of that, I only use my cart for plowing snow on the sidewalks (for miles mind you!). The thing is, golf carts are hard to start when it is cold. I have had to crank as long as 30 seconds or more to get it to start up when cold. After driving a bit it is fine, but those that first start is REALLY rough.
So I was going to do the GM HEI ignition figuring that would be better. But then I got to thinking, "If less is more, then too much must be just enough!" So I had a Mallory digital CDI box and MSD Blaster epoxied coil from my hot rod from when I still ran a distributor.
Well, this thing ROCKS! I have not changed the plug gap from stock, may open it a bit for hotter spark, (wider gap hotter and shorter spark, narrow gap colder and longer spark). Granted right now it is not that cold, about 26 degrees, but it took 3 seconds of cranking to start! LOL! Yeah, WAY better than before! Anyway, will post some pics here shortly. I need to get a different plug wire, this one has a straight boot, a 90 or 45 would be better. The plug wire is near the exhaust but far enough away to be OK, still a 90 would look so much nicer. the wire I have on now, has a shield and ground strap, VERY nice wire! May put a 90 on the end of that wire.
I have no idea why people say I am into over kill! LOL! Now, all I need to do is wait for snow! I only got to use the plow twice this season, both times worked like a champ, once it started, and now it should start like a champ!
Tom

[TomStark]

Ok here are a few pics of the CDI box and coil install
Tom

uploadfromtaptalk1454101957093.jpguploadfromtaptalk1454101969327.jpguploadfromtaptalk1454101978973.jpg

RIT rocks, cancer sucks. sent from my S5 by tap a talk

[TomStark]

OK, never one to leave well enough alone, I thought "what if the CDI box dies?" Probably no more likely than the stock box dying, but it still can happen. And since I only plow snow, and could be a mile, 2 or 3 from my home in super cold Detroit weather, I thought I should add some "insurance." So I made this little mount, and put an HEI module on it, and tomorrow will bolt it in where the stock coil was, and will add all the wire I need so that, in case of the CDI box dying, I can simply switch over to GM HEI. Not as good as the CDI box, but WAY better than the stock set up! Anyway, here is the mount I made for the module, and if you are like me, and don't like the idea of cutting off the locating dowels on the module, I included a drawing (rough as it is!) with the Cartesian coordinates of the holes. The drawing is looking down at the mount, I put the letters on it so you can see the orientation easily.
After doing the CDI box to my cart I would STRONGLY recommend that if you use your cart in any kind of cold weather you do at least the GM HEI, I am sure that is a MAJOR improvement over stock!
Tom

[my1423]

Cool!
I would still open that plug gap up.
I do not know if that is one of them but they used to advertise that they did multiple sparks per event.

Could you pull your engine temporarily and hook the starter gen up with a standard belt then go legalize it.
Cops probably wont mess with you especially if you are plowing snow. Just a little more insurance for that.

[TomStark]

Originally Posted by my1423

Cool!
I would still open that plug gap up.
I do not know if that is one of them but they used to advertise that they did multiple sparks per event.

Could you pull your engine temporarily and hook the starter gen up with a standard belt then go legalize it.
Cops probably wont mess with you especially if you are plowing snow. Just a little more insurance for that.

It is supposed to give spark duration of 20 degrees of crank rotation, (multi spark). But to be honest, I am not all that sold on multi spark. I know all the sales propaganda, but it is questionable how effective multi spark is.
Clearly some head designs would benefit more than others. Here is the thing, when the plug first fires, and ignites the A/F mixture, the flame front starts to travel away from the plug. What are the other sparks going to do? Now that is a static look at it. If we look at it dynamically, there is a LOT of turbulence in the chamber (if the design is good anyway!) and this pushes that flame front around helping it spread fast, this is why good head design requires less ignition timing. So in order for multi spark to help you, you need to have fresh A/F mixture pushed to the plug, and to do that, it has to go past the flame front. I have had many talks with the engineers at MSD and they all tap dance around this. The real truth is that if you have a problem, this can help. Just like those E3 plugs! LOL! Yeah, those are legal for NHRA PS drag racing, yet no one uses them. If they really did add power, EVERYONE would use them. We found that indexing the plug, did add HP. We got an extra 4HP out of a 1,500 HP motor.
so far as your idea of pulling the motor temporarily is great! I was trying to think of an easier way, like saying the engine is a generator and it runs the electric motor. When getting it licensed most would not know the difference. After all, that is how trains run. That big diesel motor runs a generator, the train is electric powered!
This spring and summer I plan on pulling the motor, doing some work to it, and after it is back in, will see what plug it needs and what gap it likes. With luck I will have EFI on it and possibly use a 7 pin HEI module with that CDI box, that way I can program in a timing curve. And if I hook up an alternator I can use my G Tech Comp Pro, it is a 3 axis accelerometer and needs the AC noise from the alt to pick up engine RMP and will not work without reading RPM. It is a pretty cool tool. Best $250 I ever spent. It makes your road a dyno. If you know the weight of the cart, it will give HP and Torque readings based on acceleration.
Tom

[my1423]

I agree on the multi spark being propaganda but there is a use to it.
Cold starts low temperatures and stop and go operation.
The multi spark can vaporize liquid on the plug and get you out of a fuel fouled condition.
Absolutely perfect for your cart or old engines that dont start very often that just go to the mart and back that never warm up.
I think that is msd market audience. lol.

I thought the wider the gap the hotter the spark? Just shorter duration.


How about pulling the main belt and just running the starter gen belt all the way back?
Might have to pull the drive clutch so the belt clears.
Maybe some rope wrapped around the driven clutch to build it up to maximum diameter for torque.

[TomStark]

You are correct on wider gap hot and shorter spark. But even at stock gap this is way hotter than the cart stock spark.
Will have to look into what all us involved in being street legal. Would be nice to be able to go around neighborhood in cart, but really I only go 1 block around here and walk that. Other than that go on roads where cart not allowed anyway. No one ever has led me for plowing sidewalks, and even if it were street legal that would not allow it on sidewalks, so not sure it is worth the effort.
Do still plan some cool updates, push button proximity start button will replace key, hard doors, roof, fenders, etc. Will look cool, and be warm plowing!

RIT rocks, cancer sucks. sent from my S5 by tap a talk

[TomStark]

Got the "for emergency use" HEI module installed. I mounted it where the original coil mounted. The only issue is that it is close to the gas tank heat shield, so I soldered the pick up wires on rather than use connectors. I suppose I could have bent the connectors to make it work, this just seemed easier, and since it is only an "emergency" system, it is not likely to need replacement, so no biggie.
All that said, I removed the oil pump, and premix my fuel, so I MAY get a 4 cylinder GM pick up coil, and wire that to the module, then I can use the module to run a tach, and with the tach set at 8 cylinders it will read correctly. Right now, if I run a tack off my CDI box, (I have the box set to 4 cylinder) the tach will read 1/2 of engine RPM. So would be cool to have a tach read correctly, and I have a nice Autometer one to use.
Tom

[my1423]

Cant remember the model.
How about a ford crank trigger?
Single magnet mounted anywhere.
No wasted spark.

Does not help your tach though.
If it has a c.o.p. setting it would work.

[TomStark]

I have a shift lite in my hot rod that has a tach in it, you set the number of ignition events per rev, so that would work, but not paying for another! No wasted spark on the cart, fires normal time just does it like an arc welder! I figure since I have the spare module mounted anyway, I could use it to run my in dash Autometer tach. Would need that 4 banger pick up. I would use GM just because I have that stuff laying around. I do have the Ford EDIS ignition on my hot rod (Chevy Corvair) and am getting ready to upgrade to COP.
Tom

RIT rocks, cancer sucks. sent from my S5 by tap a talk