Hotspark ignition conversion questions

[ktmracr]

I recently purchased the electronic ignition conversion kit from Hotspark for my 1988 Four Winns Liberator. It came with a wiring diagram that shows I have to add resistors and diodes to my ESA system. Has anyone had any experience with the Hotspark products? Does my current ignition not run on a full 12 volts? I haven't installed anything yet because I'm waiting for the resistors and diodes to get here. Any info would help, thanks! FYI it's a 350 king cobra.

 

[ktmracr]

The instructions from Hotspark say to add the resistors and diodes to the gray wire that goes to the - side of the coil. The problem is that there are two gray wires going to the negative side and I can't seem to follow their routing to determine which one goes to the esa module

 

[Offrddrver]

ktmracr,

Two suggestions.
1. Need a voltage/ohm meter for this test.
1a. Remove the two wires from the NEG Coil and make sure the two wires are NOT touching each other.
1b. Unplug the waterproof two wire connector that is near your ESA module. (Trace from your ESA module wires back to the first two wire connector.)
1c. Set your volt/ohm meter to OHMS (and/or sound output)
1d. Put one lead of your meter at the ESA connector (COIL SIDE of the plug)
1e. Put the other lead of the meter on only one of the gray wires that you removed from the coil.
1f. If the meter shows an Ohms reading then that is the wire that needs to be on ESA side of your circuit.
1g. If the meter show O.L. then move the lead off of the first wire and onto the other gray wire. (It should show a reading as you only have two wires.)
Which ever wire shows and ohms reading will be attached to the ESA side of your circuit.
1h. Now add another wire from the NEG- Coil to the coil side of your circuit.
1i. Install the other wire that was not used back onto the NEG- Coil.
1j. Reconnect the ESA two wire connector.
(you also have a ground wire that has to be added from your circuit to ground.)
I'm told to make sure you don't hook this up backwards or your new sensor is blown!

OR

2. Pull apart the waterproof connector that is close to your ESA module. (as noted above) Take the gray wires out of both sides of the connector with a pin pusher. The "CIRCUIT" goes in between these two wires. Just make sure you hook the "CIRCUIT" up in the correct order as noted on the circuit diagram. Again the extra ground wire must be added to the circuit.
You will have to plug the ESA connector back together for the other wire.

I'm going to use #2 for my upgrade as I'm going to build the circuit into a little box and add connectors to the sides of the box so that it will just replace that original ESA two wire plug.
I'm waiting for all my parts as I'm writing.

Hope that helps.

 

[ktmracr]

Thanks a bunch. I'll let you know how it works out. Still waiting on the circuit parts.

 

[ktmracr]

Here's another question. I bought a coil that hot spark had on their website. It's from autozone. On the side of the coil it says to use with a resistance wire or with an external resistor. It says on hot sparks website not to use a coil that require a resistor but yet they recommended this coil. They claim I need at least 1.5 ohms of resistance and that's what this coil has. Does my boat have a resistor wire or an external resistor? I'm confused. Still waiting on a few parts but figured I'd install what I have now. Now I'm wondering if I need a different coil. Please help! Thanks!

 

[Offrddrver]

ktmracr,

I'm going with the Pertronix Ignitor II and Flamethrower II with that same home made "Diode - Resistor" pack that you are installing with the HotSpark unit.
My Flamethower II coil owner's manual also states all the same notes about a resistor that you stated. However, it also states "do not use a resistor if being used with the Ignitor II electronic system".
I know this doesn't answer your direct question, but my suggestion is call and/or e-mail "HOTSPARK" and ask them what is the best coil for their product, and do you need the resistor or not with that particular coil.

From what I hear on these forums is that OMC uses a resistor wire. (I think it is a purple with red stripe wire.)
When I talked with the Pertronix rep he said that it should be a direct install with only the "Diode - Resistor" pack added between the coil and ESA module. No other mods required from his former OMC customers. (He did add a bit of a disclaimer that every setup may be different though.)

Again, call them (HotSpark) for support. They should know their product.

Sorry if that doesn't help, but just my 2-cents.

Best regards,

Offrddrver
(Off Road Driver)

 

[ktmracr]

I emailed them and they said the coil I bought should work. I'll find out this weekend, I finally have all of the parts now so I'm gonna work on it this weekend.

 

[Offrddrver]

I just got my Ignitor II unit tonight. Two wires and I'm ready to test fire in the morning. Best of luck on your new parts.

 

[Offrddrver]

No Title

A few pics of my Ignitor II unit and the "diode/resistor" pack.

 

[Offrddrver]

Woke up this morning and tuned the timing and idle on my boat due to the Pertronix Ignitor II and Flamethrower II installs.
Tune up went very quick.
Out to the lake, and "Sandman's Sanity" is running like new again.
Holeshot is great with heavy slalom skier or wakeboarders.
RPMs are smooth during the whole range up to W.O.T.
One small negative, is that I lost 2 mph top end at W.O.T. which is just a tick over 4400 RPM.
I still have to open the gap on my plugs by .005, so that may help.
Overall, I'm happy.
And by the way the ESA shift assist diode/resistor circuit worked just fine, in fact my shifts are very smooth now.....it feels like it helped.

Best of luck on your project ktmracr.
Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Redrig]

One small negative, is that I lost 2 mph top end at W.O.T. which is just a tick over 4400 RPM.

Was there any extra weight ? choppy water ? or were all things fairly equal ... ?

I am looking at this upgrade as well. TIA

 

[Offrddrver]

REDRIG,

No, just normal choppy water on Lake Pleasant AZ, with the family. Actually I'm down 25 lbs, so does that count. HA HA (The lake is so misnamed as it should be Lake Not-So Pleasant. Too many boats and often windy conditions.)

I've had the boat for so long that I know on this lake, with normal L.P.AZ conditions, with this prop, the boat hits 42 mph W.O.T trimmed up every time, until today.
** my other prop is faster (47 mph), but not good for pulling a heavy slalom skier out of the hole **
I'm going to chalk it up to a first tune with the new parts. (although all tuning is set to spec)
I'm not concerned.....yet. (I still have to add the Pertronix recommended .005 spark plug gap, maybe that will help.)
The biggest thing is the boat started every time, cold or hot, long or short times between startup.
The boat ran/sounded very smooth. And it felt like it shifted into and out of gear better....for what it's worth.
For me it was a must fix and well worth it even if I can't get my 2mph back. For me it is a ski and wakeboard boat and none of us are 40 mph or higher skiers.
Also, it was such an easy upgrade, so again well worth it.

Best of luck with your upgrade, I hope it works well for you.

Best regards,

Offrddrver

 

[Redrig]

maybe your timing is off just a tad.

isnt the whole selling point of these better performance , not worse.

 

[Offrddrver]

Agree on timing - due to first tuning with new parts.
(You know, I never liked the small amount of room I have to see the Timing numbers and the Timing Needle and to get the gun in there, so maybe just an angle of vision. Tick under or over 10d-TDC. It looks like ten, but maybe with a tad of a change I can get the 2mph back.

Agree on the selling point and hope of getting more out of it.
I got very good holeshot with it installed, so that was a huge improvement.
So again a tad on the timing and it should be good.
And maybe the spark plugs. Adjusting those on Monday.

Later,

Offrddrver

 

[ktmracr]

Well I put all of my parts on and set the timing but as I was tightening the distributor I must have moved it a bit because my timing ended up at 4* instead of 8*. I actually lost a lot of performance due to this so I'll need to set the timing again and give it another test run hopefully sometime this week. I lost about 500 rpm. Would 4* cause that big of a performance loss?

 

[bruceb58]

There should be no performance increase compared to a properly adjusted set of points.

If you have trouble seeing the timing marks, buy an advance timing light. Makes life so much easier. You can also see how much total timing advance you are getting.

 

[ktmracr]

Offrddrvr,

Got my timing set to the proper degree today but haven't had a chance to put the boat on the water and try it out. Had to do some rewiring due to a bad connection in my new circuit, not sure why but now my tach isn't working.

 

[Offrddrver]

ktmracr,

I don't know for sure how much 4? Vs 8? will change your performance.
However, when I put in my new Pertronix setup I could see, feel, and hear the motor performance change as I got closer and closer to 10? BTDC.

My new setup shifted the timing to ~2? ATDC when installed. From that 2? deg ATDC through the whole movement back to 10? BTDC I could feel/see/hear the motor smooth out.
So, I'm guessing 4? could rob you 500 RPM.

I got my boat back up to 42 mph (was at 40mph W.O.T. trimmed up after the Pertronix install and first tune) just by setting the spark plug gap from .035 to .040 (add .005 per Pertronix) and a slight tweek on the distributor. Slight tweek meaning it already looked like 10? BTDC after first tune, but I added the width of the scribe and locked it back down.
I chalk this up to the angle of vision when looking down across the timing needle to the marks on the harmonic balancer (Ford 5.0L setup).

So if I gain 2 mph top end with just the width of a scribe mark on the timing, then I'm guessing 4? difference could be enough to rob you of 500 RPM.

Sorry not a concrete answer, but just my experience over the weekend of tuning.

Best regards,

Offrddrver
​

 

[ktmracr]

Offrddrver.
Finally got everything running the way it should. Still topping out at 4k rpm but I'm guessing my low pitch prop probably won't let it get above that. The boats holeshot has improved a lot. I could probably improve everything some more if I increased the gap on my plugs but I haven't done that yet. Thanks for all the help and the info!

 

[Offrddrver]

BruceB58,

Thanks for the advise on the timing light. I just looked up the advance timing light and it looks like a cool option.
I still have an old school sears Tach/Dwell (analog), and an old school timing light/gun (pull the trigger and look).

As far as points.....If you statement is just in general, then point taken.
If you were saying I should have points..... My boat never had points, it had the Prestolite IBD system (electronic) from the factory.

In any case maybe I'll look at updating my old school tools as the new guns with ALL-IN-ONE options look cool.

Best regards,

Offrddrver