Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I have decided to remove the distributor completely and install Megajolt, which incorporates a coil pack and a Ford EDIS unit. I have found reasonably unobtrusive locations for most of the extra components, but am currently struggling for a suitable position for the coil pack.

Is there anyone who has carried out this alteration, and where did you put the coil pack?

Richard Hawkins

Spyder put it on the bulkhead for their Zetec cars, see attached photo. Keeps the HT leads short.

Mike

Thanks for the advice and photo. I foolishly forgot to mention my car is a fixed head Elan 1968, I think the engine bay is smaller than a plus two.

Richard Hawkins

Richard,

Quite a few racers place the coil inside the car these days.

Rightly or wrongly, the reasoning is fairly consistent: it hopefully keeps the coil away from dripping fuel (obviously you cannot relocate the distributor).

Perhaps this is a solution to appease the originalists?

Andrew

Richard
I put mine over the RH wheel arch under the air intake. It is under the throttle bodies but as they don't leak like carbs I'm less concerned about the location. Fore and aft it is roughly in line with the dizzy.
I think it was John Clegg who made a bracket to locate in the old distributor position which I thought was a great solution - it blanks off the dizzy hole and supports the coil pack in true Chapman style - one component - two jobs.
All the best
Gavin

Can't find the photos, but I mounted mine where the dissy used to be...

John

Found them...
mounting plate

fitted



John

After replacing my distributor with a Nodiz mappable electronic ignition, I needed to find a home for the coil pack too. After reading this and other threads I liked John's suggestion and decided to fit it in the same location as the removed distributor to maintain the original plug-lead run and to keep the engine bay tidy. The idea of placing it elsewhere to reduce fire risk was appealing, but the lack of any actual spark in a coil pack made me comfortable about keeping it under the carbs.

1.Cut the top off an old worn distributor and remove its guts


2. attached a base plate to it to mount the coil pack



3. clamped it into the original distributor hole

Damian,

Thanks for the reply, looks like a lovely piece of work. I am trying to find somewhere for the coil pack that is not under the carburettors, but is also out of sight. I could use your idea, and put a cover over it, so that any fuel leak would not reach the coil pack.

Richard Hawkins

Why would you use an EDIS and still faff around with boxes with lots of screws and fuel sloshing around inside them …

RichardHawkins wrote:Damian,

Thanks for the reply, looks like a lovely piece of work. I am trying to find somewhere for the coil pack that is not under the carburettors, but is also out of sight. I could use your idea, and put a cover over it, so that any fuel leak would not reach the coil pack.

Richard Hawkins

Fuel needs a spark to ignite, a properly fitted coil pack won't have a spark. The same is true of the original coil, no spark there.

The same cannot be said of the distributor, with the points sparking away and the rotor arm sparking at the plug lead connections in the cap, it must be like a firework display in there.

One observation, modern 'one coil per plug' systems are clearly designed to cope with heat and vibration, but I believe the old EDIS coil packs were bulkhead mounted. It may be that mounting directly to the block has reliability implications?

Andy8421 wrote:

RichardHawkins wrote:
One observation, modern 'one coil per plug' systems are clearly designed to cope with heat and vibration, but I believe the old EDIS coil packs were bulkhead mounted. It may be that mounting directly to the block has reliability implications?

Good point Richard. I think I'll add some rubber isolation between the securing bolts and the coil pack. And I'll be sure to post here in shame if the coil pack gets cooked. While I gain confidence in the Nodiz system I am still travelling with my old coil and distributor in the boot. Just in case.

Hello nerds and gentlemen

Ford used the crossflow for the earlier KA's.
On these cars the coilpack was fitted via a bracket bolted directly to one end of the block. No isolation ,however , sensible as it may sound.( to memory )
Re Nodiz installation:
According to the manual a distance of 50 cm between sensor loom and ht leads is recommended to avoid disturbenses to the signals
Advise /experiences on this subject please?
Best regards
C.Garde

Hi C.Garde
I believe the only sensitive cable in the Nodiz loom is the one carrying the signal from the Crank Position Sensor. It carries a very low voltage pulse from the sensor so is most easily disrupted.
My Nodiz ECU is located inside the cabin above the pedal assembly (RHD car). The Nodiz loom including the CPS cable runs straight back under the carb airbox through the bulkhead, so at closest probably c.30cm from the coil pack . It works very well, with Meite software showing no dropped CPS triggers.

Hal,

It’s a personal thing, I want to preserve original appearance and hide all improvements. Fo me, fuel injection is a step too far, and I can’t bring myself to justify the cost of Jenvey heritage throttle bodies.

Richard Hawkins