Bummer!!!!! Here in MA, a car this old they just wave through. My inspection guy asks me "Everything work?" I say "yes" and he hands me the sticker. If it's older than 1984 in MA, no emissions testing. When we first got the Mondial, I pulled in for the inspection and he started scratching his head, trying to figure out how he was going to get it on the dyno, then he asked "what year is this thing?" and I said 1983...he got a big smile and asked "Everything work?" Birdman
OK, so I finally got the chance to take it for a drive and really test it out and here's my observation. Keep in mind that I hadn't driven the car since it was put away for the season last year, so I'm comparing it to how I remember the car a couple months ago. It idles smoother with the XDI, and it starts a bit easier. The idle speed is more consistent than it was. Around town driving performance and feel seems about the same. The engine seems to run a little better at high revs. If you drop it a gear and stomp it on the highway, it seems to rev better and "feels" smoother, but this improvement is so small that it could be my imagination. So I guess you could say that if your points and distributors are in good shape and set up right, you will not see a significant change with the XDI. It could be my imagination, but the car seems to produce less noxious fumes, though it still produces plenty since it has no cats. I am not sure what I was expecting actually. The car already ran pretty well with the points and distributors. With this ignition it still runs well, starts better and idles a tad better. It probably will never foul a plug, which will be a nice thing, and will make plugs last a long time. Most importantly to me, it no longer needs points or rotors or periodic maintenance on the distributors. The tach works fine with the black box, I just had not connected the power to it. I guess I'll drive it all summer and post a follow up later. Birdman
Well, I guess it's not miracle where your going to find 25 hp, but I think you'll appreciate it more over time. I do think you'll notice better mpg (if you tracked that at all). Also, no more $250 dist. caps. When I did mine 10 years ago, I bought the HPV-1 for $500-600, so it was really a no brainer for me. My dizzies needed to be rebuilt, so all the parts would have ended up beng more. Keep us posted though Birdy. Henry
Received my Electomotive XDI Today, and got my new fuse boxes from birdman a few days ago, will install this weekend. fingers crossed. Wade
Wade, You shouldn't have any problems installing it. No big deal and mine worked the first try. Birdman
Wow what a difference, thanks Birdman, took me all of about 10 minutes and a world of improvement. I am going to post the pocedure on my www.308qvregister.com site, under technical must have improvements. Wade
I read that and I thought we were talking about the Electromotive, not the fuseblocks! I was like....how the hell did he put in the Electromotive in 10 minutes????? Thanks for the site listing. You can link to mine if you want and I'll link back. Birdman
LOL, oh no that is going to take some time. I opened the box to hte XDI and said wow, I even got plug wires , did not expect that. Nick is the Sh*t and birdman you are too, or are you birdsh*t LMAO, it's rough when all you can do is amuse yourself, I need to go finish working on my Daytona, bye Wade
Hey Everyone, I have to do a follow-up here for the good of the thread and come clean with a confession that is embarassing. When I said that the Electromotive didn't seem that much better than points, at the time I did not realize that when I put together my plug wires, I accidentally broke the center conductor on one of them. I was getting a really weak spark on cylinder #3 that got worse as I drove the car for a week or two. Once I realized my mistake and fixed it.... WOW, what a difference when all 8 cylinders work! Now I can say for absolute certain that the Electromotive is WAY better than points. The car starts right up like an injected car, even stone cold. It settles to an even and consistent idle instantly, stone cold or hot. Points suck. This ignition rocks. Don't be like me....check your plug wires with an ohmmeter after you build them! Birdman P.S. I build fuseblocks way better than plug wires, I promise!
I was a bit disapointed when I read your post after your 1st drive and could not understand how you could have had such a different experience then all the people that I installed them for (including the one in my car) but I wrote it off to personal opinion.....I am glad to here that you found a problem and that you are now really impressed with the unit. Paul
Hi Paul, Yes, I could actually hear the collective anti-climactic sigh through the computer. Everyone was expecting me to come back and say the thing was amazing and....well...it's wasn't. But as it turns out, I messed up! Those plug wires come all the same length without the coil-boot ends on them. I had to cut them to length and put on the ends. The rubber boot on the end is REALLY friggin tight and it takes all kinds of work to get the wire in there, even with silicone lube on them. I managed to break one while wrestling with it, but I didn't notice. Even with the center conductor BROKEN I was getting a weak spark so the car ran on 7.5 cylinders. I didn't realize my mistake putting around town. When I got it on the highway, I could really hear and feel the misfire. It was also causing a secondary effect in another cylinder, causing a low speed cough through the carb. I spent 2 weeks rebuilding the carbs, thinking that they gummed up over the winter. I finally checked the plug wires and LOW and BEHOLD....an open circuit. HOLY CRAP did it run better afterwards! Boy did I have a big grin on my face when I came in from a test drive this afternoon. On the plus side, my carbs are squeaky clean now. My advice to everyone is to jam a bolt or something in the rubber boot for each plug wire the night before you build them and let the rubber expand a bit. Amazing how much easier it is to assemble them when you do that! Birdman
Good to know birdman, I have started the installation of mine on my 85 qv. I will post pics after I am done, My buddy and I are fabricating custom cam end cover on a CNC machine that will double as mounting points for the coils. I have also machined a couple of cam end caps that look exactly like factory plugs. Wait to you guys see this job. You will be amazed at how clean everything looks. Will start posting pics this coming week. Wade
Wade, Out of curiosity, why are you putting and Electromotive on a QV? The QV already has electronic ignition, although it does have distributors. Is it for the adjustability of the timing? Birdman
BECAUSE DIGIPLEXIES "SUCK" IT was cheaper to do the XDI instead of buying new 1 digiplexies let alone 2 Wade
Microplexes suck also. I have gone single bank ignition several times I took the microplex off and put on a Mallory electronic distributor, hot coil and MSD 6AL for the price of less than two Marelli distributor caps. Runs great, simple to install and and set, dead reliable so far. Simple is good.
Digi plex not only sucks it has SMOG programing and that makes it suck twice as much ++++++ after you have to buy a couple of dist. caps and rotors you will be broke.
Paul, I know the US spec. QV Digiplexes have the SMOG curve, but what is your experience with Electomotives in Euro QVs that don't even have cats.
Well I drove it all summer and after 6 months, I can report back that there is absolutely nothing to report. Which is to say... IT STILL KICKS A$$! No problems, no issues, no adjustments, no nothing. Just start the car, drive it. It revs better, it runs better, it accelerates batter, it starts better and it idles better than it did with the stock ignition. It even *looks* cool. This is one mod that I definitely have NO regrets about and would do again in a second. WELL worth the $$ IMHO. I have since seen Steven R's installation of his Electromotive. He put the "brain" in the trunk. I thought about doing it that way too. My decision to put it in the engine bay was based on not taking up what little trunk space I have with something that will get in the way with cargo, or even be banged by sliding cargo. On the flip side, it is DRY in the trunk and the brain wouldn't get wet. Verell asked me if I was concerned that my mounting location will allow it to get wet. It think it probably would except that I absolutely refuse to drive in the rain. My 308 has seen rain perhaps twice since I owned it. (Old Italian steel plus rain = bodywork). I just thought I would throw that out there for consideration if you are thinking of adding one of these. I'm not sure how "weather resistant" the brain unit is. If you drive in the rain, might want to consider putting it in the trunk. Birdman
The main unit is not water tight, mount in trunk. Also, with it in the relatively sealed trunk the basic elements are not reaching the brain unit as it would if you mounted it on the exposed part of the car. Below are a few pics of install, though have cleaned up a bit of the wiring with loom since these pics were taken.. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
FWIW, several years ago when I was installing the Electromotive system, I was advised by their techs not to put the ECU in the engine compartment nor in the truck, but in the passenger compartment. The reasoning was heat. I ended up mounting the unit behind the passenger seat on the firewall, and drilling a hole through to the engine compartment to run the wiring harness.
Does someone have a number for Durable 1 or another company that has the mounting bracket for the Coil Packs?
