is an ignitor universal?
 

Hi everyone, i've been grappling with ignition issues lately, and I want to get away from the stock FB ignitors. now I've been told that an ignitor is "nothing more than a solid state switch", so i'm wondering if there's anything stopping me from swapping one for another. a lot of the other options mentioned on this site (GM HEI etc) aren't viable where I live, but what we DO have is a lot of mitsubishi ignitors for around 5 bucks each.

So is there anything stopping me from getting a pinout for a mitsi ignitor and wiring it in like it was a j109? im very enthusiastic with a soldering iron, but dont know a lot about the concepts behind it all, so please let me know if there's something i'm failing to consider... car is a fb with a carby 13b and 1980 sa22 ignition (strut-tower mounted ignitors)

thanks in advance

idk about the mitsubishi ones, but i do know about the GM HEI's. i used them with my DLIDFIS mod and they work fine. im not sure if they have to have a certain load to "fire" the coil or what not and the HEI just happens to work, or if they are universal... maybe someone else will chime in.

hey, thanks for the reply. i've read a few articles with people using the GM ignitors, but theyre super expensive here in NZ, and I've heard they can be a bit iffy with reliability

Since starting this thread I've learned about smart and dumb ignitors, so that's one thing I have to look out for... anyone know if the j109 is a smart or dumb design?

J-109 should be dumb. At most it has a little compensation, but that's it. Simple 4 pin design.

Since you're over there, I suggest Bosch ignitors. They're cheaper for you than GM HEIs.

If user Bumpstart sees this thread, he'll have the Bosch part number for you.

hah, funnily enough i've just seen bumpstart dump a bunch of equivalent part numbers in an ausrotary forum thread (dated a few months ago) guess i can go from there

he says theyre smart ignitors though?

smart igniters.. they are dwell calculating ,, using a reluctor based trigger edge

ie.. they are a brain.. not just a fast mosfet switch
,,, they sense the rate of acceleration between ignition events and initiate dwell period earlier and earlier to try and make 7A worth of charge period with increasing revs
at same token they delay dwell start at low revs to hold charge to only 7A during long periods between ignition events .. eg idle

any other igniter used must also be dwell sensing / calculating and use reluctor trigger ,, and up to you to set the trigger edge polarity correctly

hmm.. quick question for you bumpstart, are 13b JC cosmo coil/ignitors the same as FC rx7 ones? i was looking into doing a 2GCDFIS transistor jobbie, havent been able to find a 2nd generation rx7 coil and ignitor, but a cosmo one has just popped up locally...

not sure.. needs part number by i expect it is same as s4 being n327 and n318 marked on the coils .. dont rate them as good as a full bosch DLIDFIS..