Right now I'm looking for an ignition to complement a Autronic SM2 which I will soon purchase. I need some input in regards to reliabilty, performance and customer support on the following units:

Autronic 500r CDI($890)

MSD DIS-4 (aprox $340)

AEM CD2I (aprox $300)

M&W ?

Any others on the market that should be considered?

Is the Autronic 500R worth the extra money?

-Rob

 

Probably Not

 

motec

 

i run the 500R CDI and am very happy with it. it is a 4 channel amp, are the others? if the MSD is 4ch i would go with it

stay away from the AEM CDI for now

no need for the 8ch motec

 

They are all 4-channel.

The problem with MSD for me is the mixed reviews. It seems like a lot of people are getting shipped DOA units or are having other flaky problems. I also hear that they are great units and the customer support is top-notch.
$890 is a tough pill to swallow for an ignition box. If it is absolutely worth it then I will just suck it up and pay the piper for the Autronic I guess. Is the Autronic really that good of a product?

-Rob

 

it's a great product! but after seeing the difference in prices i wouldn't say they are that great. perhaps have a talk to riceracing he's a cheap bastard and choose the 500R over the others

 

he's also a dealer. ;o)

I will ask him though..

 

he installs and tunes them, but no he's not a dealer

 

I stand corrected. thanks

Rice seems like a class act regardless, so I'll see what he has to say.

-Rob

 

What do you mean probably not? Back that up.

I have the R500 and my ignition NEVER misses a beat! It's an awesome box to compliment the SM2.

I have been running it for about 8 months.

 

Wanklin,

Make sure you add resistors to the crank trigger outputs.

From Ray Hall on the Autronic Forum:

The rotary crank sensor produce a very high peak to peak voltage at high engine rpm. The reluctor has an upper limit of the voltage it will except. By powering the reluctor from 12 volts rather then the trigger supply (8 volts) the reluctor will work to a higher voltage.

Another way to fix the high voltage is to put a resistor across the red and black shielded wires on the cylinder pulse input and another on the reference. Most times a 22K will fix the problem, but in some cases 10k or lower are required.

 

Thanks Zkeller I will put that in my notes.

 

Oh yea, you will need to negate the barametric pressure timing 8 degrees to zero out the timing. Go into M5 in the windows software and go to the "IGN MOD2 altitude". Make a zero and five hundred kPA table and place -8 degrees in each. This must be done since there is no way to adjust the trigger angle in teh software to make up for our FD's fixed trigger placement.

Make the trailing map 20 degrees, zero your leading and double check the timing with a light. This value worked for me but may differ a bit for you??

Just bear mind that your datalogs and Engine screen will be off 8 degrees. You will need to mentally add 8 degrees there.

When the new chip is out, next week I hear, this will be fixed and will be a non-issue. I hope they are adding closed-loop control for rotaries too. I will ask Ray.

 

I will be ordering the 1.99 chip within the next couple of weeks. I'll probably hire Enzo to tune the car since he seems to be the godfather of Autronic and is not too far away from No Va.

 

Decided to go ahead and buy the Autronic Ignition. I expect it to be money well spent.

thanks

 

that is a better choice than the aem....beware if you are lookin at that piece of ****. at least eight out of ten aem units have failed from what I have seen, leaving drivers stranded on the side of the road on a random basis. That doesnt include the ones on my fd. The shop went through FOUR of them on my car before I pulled the plug and got the msd.


j

 

Yeah I concluded that about the AEM after snooping around for a bit. The MSD DIS-4 doesn't seem to be much better.
I'd rather spend 900 and do it right with the 500R.
By the way, AEM's claim that their ignition is the first and only CDI with dual capacitors is not true. Autronic has had that technology since back in the day.

thanks, Rob

 

Great choice. You will be more than happy with it!

 

AEM has been putting out some junk products. Maybe those monkeys need to learn to thoroughly test a product before bringing it to market.

"First to bring you this revolutionary product that works perhaps 25% of the time! I new industry standard in fuckups!"

 

So take it that you don't run AEM? ;o)

 

you won't be dissapointed with the 500r. you can hook up a switch for extra power o/p or you can mod it for insane o/p. and she still won't fail!

 

I'll let you all know how it goes.

I'd like to see what your engine setups look like. I'm interested in building a nice modular engine harness for my SM2 and I'd like to see some nice wiring harness jobs.

I want to use a 50 or so pin MILSPEC panel mount connector for the firewall and some nice high temp connectors for the sensor, ignition box etc. I will wrap with flame retardant nylon type, flexible sleeve and heat shrink connections.

Is it smart to use waxed tie string in the engine bay?

can anyone recommend some good sources for custom harness supplies? I want this thing to look clean and work for a long time. (I'm trying to ditch the tape and split loom nastiness)

thanks Rob

 

here are some of the sources that I already have:
http://www.p-r-s.com/
http://www.action-electronics.com/ampcpc.htm