Master Hack
Well-known member
My sanity has been called into question in the newbie thread for some of the things I did to this poor thing. So to remove any possible doubt, I will try to explain how to convert a Mopar HEI ignition to work on a Honda GX390.
The Franken Monster:
The ignition:
As you can see my projects get off the rails somewhere between start and finish. I collect a lot of stuff (wife calls it hoarding) and when I see something I can use without spending a bunch of money I use it. Yeah, I spend all day making a part I could go buy for $10. I prefer to make everything. I did not want a bolt together kit.
So with that in mind this thing took a year of work 25 hours/week average.
On to the ignition:
I had a mopar distributer and thought it would be nice to put this on the honda for some centrifugal advance. The stock honda ignition is static timing. Reliability was another factor.
So I figured out how to put a Mopar distributer on the end of the crank.
OK so its going to fire 8 times every revolution of the crank! that won't work! So file 7 lobes off of the reluctor! Now it fires at the top of the compression stroke and at the top of the exhaust stroke (so what) The tricky part was modifying the distributer to run off of the crank without grinding stuff up. Again this is all stuff I have sitting on a shelf. Cost - 8 hours and $0. The problem is it's ugly and adds another 6 inches to width.
After that setting the timing is pretty straight forward. A timing light is a must.(remember those?) Once the timing is set near TDC then tune it by ear and right foot.
The wiring is the easy part mopar wiring diagrams are all over the net. I added a 30mm carburetor and the thing runs pretty sweet.
I'll get into details if anyone is interested, just ask.
Disclaimer:
This project is not for the faint of heart. You need a lathe and a mill and courage. Screw up and a GOOD replacement distributer is $150 or more. Chinese knockoffs can be had for $50 or so.
The Franken Monster:
The ignition:
As you can see my projects get off the rails somewhere between start and finish. I collect a lot of stuff (wife calls it hoarding) and when I see something I can use without spending a bunch of money I use it. Yeah, I spend all day making a part I could go buy for $10. I prefer to make everything. I did not want a bolt together kit.
So with that in mind this thing took a year of work 25 hours/week average.
On to the ignition:
I had a mopar distributer and thought it would be nice to put this on the honda for some centrifugal advance. The stock honda ignition is static timing. Reliability was another factor.
So I figured out how to put a Mopar distributer on the end of the crank.
OK so its going to fire 8 times every revolution of the crank! that won't work! So file 7 lobes off of the reluctor! Now it fires at the top of the compression stroke and at the top of the exhaust stroke (so what) The tricky part was modifying the distributer to run off of the crank without grinding stuff up. Again this is all stuff I have sitting on a shelf. Cost - 8 hours and $0. The problem is it's ugly and adds another 6 inches to width.
After that setting the timing is pretty straight forward. A timing light is a must.(remember those?) Once the timing is set near TDC then tune it by ear and right foot.
The wiring is the easy part mopar wiring diagrams are all over the net. I added a 30mm carburetor and the thing runs pretty sweet.
I'll get into details if anyone is interested, just ask.
Disclaimer:
This project is not for the faint of heart. You need a lathe and a mill and courage. Screw up and a GOOD replacement distributer is $150 or more. Chinese knockoffs can be had for $50 or so.