Evinrude SportFour Ignition Questions

[hank1995]

I Disassembled the mag plate and the coils are in rough shape. I’m thinking of using motorcycle coils and using a battery to fire them.
1) Adapters are available to allow the use of standard, modern plugs. How would you determine what plug to use?
2) The manual calls for a Champion M-6. Are these available and if not what is a good match?
3) The points I have are pretty badly worn. Looking for a decent set of used points.

• This topic was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by Mumbles.

[jeff-register]

those dual fire coils are out there. I bought 2 for my Merc KH7 to replace the Bendix coils, check E bay. Bought a Mark 25 that had Honda 350 motorcycle coils. Need to match the capacitors to the coils. Old Harley Davidson coils were dual fire too as the other cylinder fired on the exhaust stroke so it didn’t matter. May I suggest finding the correct coils.

[hank1995]

Lots of room for something like this (see pic). with the original coils removed. The pictured coil is about $20. I don’t know how much juice these would draw. A small rechargeable lithium battery situated on the mag plate would be ideal in terms of looks – probably too much to ask. As for the plugs, I’ve got an inquiry pending at Brillman (https://brillman.com/). Lots of good stuff here and a 600 page catalog. Are these plugs likey to NOS (quite old)? If so more reason to use the adapter and a plug to match the coil. I’m also reading that on these non-electronic igntions a ballast resistor is necessary to lower voltage to 7 v. at the points (my MK75 has these resistors). I’m wondering if a 6v battery would make more sense.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by Mumbles.

[garry-in-michigan]

They ran the old battery ignition racing outboards on a 7-1/2 volt Hot Shot battery. (five 1-½ volt cells ) You have to remember to turn off the ignition if the motor stops by retarding the timing. If when stoped one of the points happens to be closed, the battery will discharge through the coil and may burn it up. The Elto’s Atwater Kent ignition won’t do that. It only fires when the crankshaft is turning.

[The Boat House]

[garry-in-michigan]

The electronic ignition doesn’t worry about burning points. They feed 300 volts into the coil.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by garry-in-michigan.

[hank1995]

For applications, they include 70’s Honda CB’s – a points/condensor set up. I suppose I could ask the vendor. I would prefer to use the original coils. They are so fragile. The spark plug wire broke free of the windings on one of them. I’m not sure if it can be reattached. There’s probably someone out there who could rewind it. From a site discussing the process: “When you have done about 11000 turns and have not broken the wire nor made any loose turns which will slip out to the edge of the insulating paper you only have to deal with the HT terminal end.” Not for the faint of heart. Lots of labor – wouldn’t be cheap to have it done.

http://www.brufnut.de/WORKSHOP/FRIESEKE/friese.htm

• This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by hank1995.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by Mumbles.

[jeff-register]

Just a thought, Have you checked the coils with an electrical meter? Yes the plug wire can be resoldered if not too much heat & time is used. Go from either hi volt output terminals using the resistance scale, around 7 to 8K ohms, correct Garry?

[The Boat House]

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by The Boat House.

[hank1995]

I’m out ot town but I’ll post pics this weekend, take a look at the attachment point and take some resistance measurements.

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