ProTec Ignition replacement question

Looks great. It's funny that your wife is poking around under the doghouse. I thought the doghouse was the one place where a man is safe from interior design suggestions, LOL.

I wouldn't lose sleep over the spark arrester hose touching a wire.

KRoundy wrote: Sweet! Looking forward to seeing the write up. Congrats on completing the job. Have you done an on-the-water test yet?

No water test yet. It started to rain as we finished up. I'll definitely be taking it out next Saturday for a full day of running it. Once timed properly she fired right up. Going from 3000 rpm straight to closed throttle resulted in no rpm dips or stumbles like she used to. She ran nice and smooth.

Gonna fire her up today again and double check everything. In my pic it appears my idle might be at 14 degrees. I need to double check that.

I also want to take some more pics of how I ran the plug wires and to clean up a few things while I'm in there.

Sweet! Looking forward to seeing the write up. Congrats on completing the job. Have you done an on-the-water test yet?

Got the swap done today. Beat the serious rain by about 2 minutes. She was a little tough to start, but once we set the idle timing at 12 she purred like a kitten. I did notice my plugs were very white. I need to adjust the carb to fatten it up. Its a 4010. Not sure which way to turn the mixture screws on the side (in or out).

Still need to clean up a few things (the coil insulation on the bell housing and some wire separators).

I think it came out great. Looks like I have enough room to put the plastic cover back on, but not sure I well.

I ruined the supplied tach and 12V terminal ends, so I used weatherproof ones. Oh well.

I will do the write up shortly. Here are some pics:

KRoundy wrote: In your first photo there, what is that small device packed on the red and white cardboard?

It's an inline spark tester.   You can use the spark plug instead if you prefer, but the tester helps lessen the risk of getting shocked

JP - Definitely watching your progress - I'll probably be doing this in the future too

Do I need to put assembly lube or motor oil on the dizzy cam gear or does it go in dry? Directions don't mention anything about it needed lube.

The crimp is definitely designed so that the pair of tangs closest to the blade crimp down on the stripped wire, preferably after being tinned, and that the second set crimp down upon the insulation providing a strain relief for the first set. Its actually a pretty tough connector to do a good job crimping with anything other than a connector specific tool set but every ignition company still seems to send them out.

Orlando76 wrote: Yeah try the black dies. Changing the terminals out is not an option? Are you familiar with Skycraft on Fairbanks? This is about the point I'd go there. I never fully understood those terminals but from my experience I think they're a poor design

I think we have some terminal ends here at work I can practice on. And yes, I am familiar with Skycraft. Love that place. I could also solder the wire to the terminals for some added strength.

JPASS wrote: [QUOTE=Bri892001] Do I use the black die in the pic or the one with the colored dots? My guess would be the black die as the die seems to be more rounded and would close those posts tighter around the wire.

Yeah try the black dies. Changing the terminals out is not an option? Are you familiar with Skycraft on Fairbanks? This is about the point I'd go there. I never fully understood those terminals but from my experience I think they're a poor design

I would strip the wire to less length & have those end tangs crimp down on insulation. I think that is why they are wider.

I believe you want to "strip the wire like my previous pic." If you put them over the insulation, it's unlikely it would pierce through with enough bite to get you a good contact.

If you happen to have heat shrink tubing laying around, it wouldn't hurt to put that over the terminal end. Actually, they have a type of insulation that can actually be painted on after as well.

The black crimpers you have are good for the tube style terminal ends.

The terminal "ends with arms" I think go with a crimper that has a special die that will roll the arms in automatically as it's squeezed. But, those aren't the terminal ends you're actually using?

Timing on our mech advance dizzys does not depend on load, only rpm... You can do it all on the hose.

You can check it in the driveway. At least the idle speed initial for sure.

If you're were revving it up, you'd want to make sure your tranny doesn't have a dirty neutral, because you don't want your driveshaft to be spinning on a dry strut bearing.

JPASS wrote: Good to know. Is it safe to assume I should be seeing 24 degrees at 3000RPM like it's inscribed on the dizzy? I was also going by the manual in regards to rotor rotation and wiring.

Ok, cool. Good that you have images of the manual in front of you.

On the timing... that's a good question actually.

My first inclination is that you should have 24 degrees of advance for something like 35-36 degrees total timing. (Just saw Lewy's post; we're on the same page.)

But then, I've heard it said that the GT heads don't require as much advance. I remember Skidim at one point, listing on clearance a dizzy that was specifically curved for GT-40 heads. But I don't know how much less is the norm, like how much total advance a GT-40 head equipped engine should be seeing.