The Joy of Modding: A Guide to Ignition System Upgrades

I love restoring old cars, but of course, I also love them for their quirky looks however their ignition systems can be a weak spot so this is the perfect car for me to show you what mods can be done. The ignition system creates that all-important spark that turns fuel and air into power put simply without the ignition system your car wouldn't move and if it's not working properly your car will be way down on power and performance.

It might look complicated but anyone can have a go and this work can apply to many cars out there. If we have a look at this engine there are a couple of really good clear signs that it could be struggling with its ignition the first one is this blistered paint on the rear valance and that's come from too much heat coming from the exhaust and that's because of the poor ignition that engine has are having to work hard for. The second one we're going to need to listen to this engine Paul borrow up okay if you listen to the idol you can hear that it is really struggling and tunnel spluttering and it almost cuts out and that's come from poor ignition pole.

Val do let me show you the problem now this is a distributor and inside we have a rotating arm and that center spot down the HT leads to the spark plug where they ignite the air fuel mix inside the cylinder. It sounds kind of simple but to make that happen there are lots of mechanical parts first ones being these the points now these are kind of like a switch and they have to open a precise amount and an exact moment to make sure the spark is delivered exactly when the engine needs it and it's the mechanical nature of these and go wrong so that's exactly what I'm gonna be modifying. First things first you need to unplug all of the high tension or HT leads from the cap and because this beetle has four cylinders there are four HT leads and I take off distributor cap then all I need to do is undo one at fault and this distributor slots clean off.

Next up undo the two bolts that secure the coil this is the device that boosts the electrical charge provided by your car's battery so coil turns 12 volts into 50,000 volts and that's the sort of voltage you need the united air fuel mix. If your ignition system has been misbehaving then there's a good chance that the spark plugs will be damaged so the next step is to check these um what do you know if you look at it it's all black and sitting if your spark plugs look like this definitely change them out something as simple as changing your spark plugs every couple of years is a job really worth doing they'll keep your engine running absolutely sweet.

With all of the old bits out the beetle is now ready for a brand new ignition kit a fresh set of HT leads plugs coil and distributor costs around ninety five pounds. Now that we've got the old distributor out we can see the difference between it and the new one now the old one is completely mechanical so as that rotor arm turns around it opens and shuts the points and it's within this that a mechanical fault can occur giving us bad ignition a new one however has none of that it uses this a Hall effect sensor and that uses magnetism to detect the position of the rotor arm giving me a spark exactly when I need it and that's why this is a great improvement.

Okay onto fitting the new parts and it's pretty much the reverse of taking it all off using exactly the same tools so first job new spark plugs back in the engine once those are screwed back in you can then attach the new HT leads to each of the plugs and bolt in the shiny new coil. Once that's done it's time to fit the electronic distributor when I took it off and made sure I took note of the rotor arm and it was pointing in that position so hopefully this will engage just where it needs to nice and firm down and that rotor arm went straight in place.

Now it's time to reconnect my HT leads so it's cap back on but before you can tighten the distributor bolt for good there's one final job left to do timing to do this you need a strobe gun which hooks up to one of the HT leads and fires a light in time with the ignition spark start it up you then point the gun at two timing marks one that's on the big crankshaft pulley and once on the crank case they should line up if not you twist the distributor slightly until they do. With this engine is now running time to take this VW boob out for a spin it works its peppy is perpy and that's because the new recognition system provides a better spot giving me a way better burning the cylinder and that equals more power.

Conversion kits like this are available for many petrol cars fitted with conventional mechanical distributors and the job took less than an hour and cost less than a hundred quid.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enright let's get over to Jimmy de Vil's workshop where it's going to show us how simple it is to add performance to almost any car these are jobs that we can all do to the motors we love from the comfort of our own garage come on you can't afford not to watch this time I'm going to show you how to replace a car's crucial ignition system using this iconic 1972 VW Beetle I love the feel for that remounted air-cooled bundle of joy but of course I also love them for their quirky looks however their ignition systems can be a weak spot so this is the perfect car for me to show you what mods can be done the ignition system creates that all-important spark that turns fuel and air into power put simply without the ignition system your car wouldn't move and if it's not working properly your car will be way down on power and performance it might look complicated but anyone can have a go and this work can apply to many cars out there if we have a look at this engine there are a couple of really good clear signs that it could be struggling with its ignition the first one is this blistered paint on the rear valance and that's come from too much heat coming from the exhaust and that's because of the poor ignition that engine has are having to work hard for the second one we're going to need to listen to this engine Paul borrow up okay if you listen to the idol you can hear that it is really struggling and tunnel spluttering and it almost cuts out and that's come from poor ignition pole Val do let me show you the problem now this is a distributor and inside we have a rotating arm and that center spot down the HT leads to the spark plug where they ignite the air fuel mix inside the cylinder it sounds kind of simple but to make that happen there are lots of mechanical parts first ones being these the points now these are kind of like a switch and they have to open a precise amount and an exact moment to make sure the spark is delivered exactly when the engine needs it and it's the mechanical nature of these and go wrong so that's exactly what I'm gonna be modifying first things first you need to unplug all of the high tension or HT leads from the cap and because this beetle has four cylinders there are four HT leads and I take off distributor cap then all I need to do is undo one at fault and this distributor slots clean off next up undo the two bolts that secure the coil this is the device that boosts the electrical charge provided by your car's battery so coil turns 12 volts into 50,000 volts and that's the sort of voltage you need the united air fuel mix if your ignition system has been misbehaving then there's a good chance that the spark plugs will be damaged so the next step is to check these um what do you know if you look at it it's all black and sitting if your spark plugs look like this definitely change them out something as simple as changing your spark plugs every couple of years is a job really worth doing they'll keep your engine running absolutely sweet so with all of the old bits out the beetle is now ready for a brand new ignition kit a fresh set of HT leads plugs coil and distributor costs around ninety five pounds now that we've got the old distributor out we can see the difference between it and the new one now the old one is completely mechanical so as that rotor arm turns around it opens and shuts the points and it's within this that a mechanical fault can occur giving us bad ignition a new one however has none of that it uses this a Hall effect sensor and that uses magnetism to detect the position of the rotor arm giving me a spark exactly when I need it and that's why this is a great improvement okay onto fitting the new parts and it's pretty much the reverse of taking it all off using exactly the same tools so first job new spark plugs back in the engine once those are screwed back in you can then attach the new HT leads to each of the plugs and bolt in the shiny new coil once that's done it's time to fit the electronic distributor when I took it off and made sure I took note of the rotor arm and it was pointing in that position so hopefully this will engage just where it needs to nice and firm down and that rotor arm went straight in place now it's time to reconnect my HT leads so it's cap back on but before you can tighten the distributor bolt for good there's one final job left to do timing to do this you need a strobe gun which hooks up to one of the HT leads and fires a light in time with the ignition spark start it up you then point the gun at two timing marks one that's on the big crankshaft pulley and once on the crank case they should line up if not you twist the distributor slightly until they do with that this engine is now running time to take this VW boob out for a spin it works its peppy is perky and that's because the new recognition system provides a better spot giving me a way better burning the cylinder and that equals more power and I could use it right here conversion kits like this are available for many petrol cars fitted with conventional mechanical distributors and the job took less than an hour and cost less than a hundred quid youright let's get over to Jimmy de Vil's workshop where it's going to show us how simple it is to add performance to almost any car these are jobs that we can all do to the motors we love from the comfort of our own garage come on you can't afford not to watch this time I'm going to show you how to replace a car's crucial ignition system using this iconic 1972 VW Beetle I love the feel for that remounted air-cooled bundle of joy but of course I also love them for their quirky looks however their ignition systems can be a weak spot so this is the perfect car for me to show you what mods can be done the ignition system creates that all-important spark that turns fuel and air into power put simply without the ignition system your car wouldn't move and if it's not working properly your car will be way down on power and performance it might look complicated but anyone can have a go and this work can apply to many cars out there if we have a look at this engine there are a couple of really good clear signs that it could be struggling with its ignition the first one is this blistered paint on the rear valance and that's come from too much heat coming from the exhaust and that's because of the poor ignition that engine has are having to work hard for the second one we're going to need to listen to this engine Paul borrow up okay if you listen to the idol you can hear that it is really struggling and tunnel spluttering and it almost cuts out and that's come from poor ignition pole Val do let me show you the problem now this is a distributor and inside we have a rotating arm and that center spot down the HT leads to the spark plug where they ignite the air fuel mix inside the cylinder it sounds kind of simple but to make that happen there are lots of mechanical parts first ones being these the points now these are kind of like a switch and they have to open a precise amount and an exact moment to make sure the spark is delivered exactly when the engine needs it and it's the mechanical nature of these and go wrong so that's exactly what I'm gonna be modifying first things first you need to unplug all of the high tension or HT leads from the cap and because this beetle has four cylinders there are four HT leads and I take off distributor cap then all I need to do is undo one at fault and this distributor slots clean off next up undo the two bolts that secure the coil this is the device that boosts the electrical charge provided by your car's battery so coil turns 12 volts into 50,000 volts and that's the sort of voltage you need the united air fuel mix if your ignition system has been misbehaving then there's a good chance that the spark plugs will be damaged so the next step is to check these um what do you know if you look at it it's all black and sitting if your spark plugs look like this definitely change them out something as simple as changing your spark plugs every couple of years is a job really worth doing they'll keep your engine running absolutely sweet so with all of the old bits out the beetle is now ready for a brand new ignition kit a fresh set of HT leads plugs coil and distributor costs around ninety five pounds now that we've got the old distributor out we can see the difference between it and the new one now the old one is completely mechanical so as that rotor arm turns around it opens and shuts the points and it's within this that a mechanical fault can occur giving us bad ignition a new one however has none of that it uses this a Hall effect sensor and that uses magnetism to detect the position of the rotor arm giving me a spark exactly when I need it and that's why this is a great improvement okay onto fitting the new parts and it's pretty much the reverse of taking it all off using exactly the same tools so first job new spark plugs back in the engine once those are screwed back in you can then attach the new HT leads to each of the plugs and bolt in the shiny new coil once that's done it's time to fit the electronic distributor when I took it off and made sure I took note of the rotor arm and it was pointing in that position so hopefully this will engage just where it needs to nice and firm down and that rotor arm went straight in place now it's time to reconnect my HT leads so it's cap back on but before you can tighten the distributor bolt for good there's one final job left to do timing to do this you need a strobe gun which hooks up to one of the HT leads and fires a light in time with the ignition spark start it up you then point the gun at two timing marks one that's on the big crankshaft pulley and once on the crank case they should line up if not you twist the distributor slightly until they do with that this engine is now running time to take this VW boob out for a spin it works its peppy is perky and that's because the new recognition system provides a better spot giving me a way better burning the cylinder and that equals more power and I could use it right here conversion kits like this are available for many petrol cars fitted with conventional mechanical distributors and the job took less than an hour and cost less than a hundred quid you\n"