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Give Ed a call, very knowledgeable and he will walk you through your application.
I emailed him, and he confirmed that my distributor is an aftermarket auto advance unit--but didn't say whether his kit will work with such a distributor. I've written him back asking (again) whether his kit is compatible, so guess we'll see...
A note: the bike started acting up today after I rode for maybe half an hour. Missing badly on one cylinder. I'll run through the usual routine, as it's rather obviously an ignition issue (plenty of gas in tank and see-through filter - though I haven't ruled out buying a crummy load of gas with water in it...).
However, the coil was bloody hot--and you'll recall from earlier posts that it reads 5.4 ohms resistance, or nearly twice the 3 ohms recommended by Ed of EBeyond. So, I wonder if the coil overheated. I have one of those chrome coil covers (came with the bike - see pic), and in looking at the thing, it seems like it might function like a scoop to catch hot air off the rear cylinder and channel it tightly around the coil.
At any rate, I'm thinking that I might experiment with leaving the thing off, or taking my carbide hole saw and cutting several holes in the rear-facing side, so that air can easily pass through. Can't hurt, and might actually help on hot days...
If the Ohm's do not match between the ignition and coil, one of them will burn up. For me, Ed's ignition beat up about 5 coils on my Flathead until I figured out the issue. I ran a 3 Ohm Panhead coil for a year than found reproduction coil that looks right for my bike that is 3 Ohm and works well with Ed's ignition.
If the Ohm's do not match between the ignition and coil, one of them will burn up. For me, Ed's ignition beat up about 5 coils on my Flathead until I figured out the issue. I ran a 3 Ohm Panhead coil for a year than found reproduction coil that looks right for my bike that is 3 Ohm and works well with Ed's ignition.
He makes the "D" Shaped coil that works for my era. He apparently had many talks with Ed to confirm his coil worked with Ed's ignition. Coil has been on the bike for two years, so far bullet proof.
He makes the "D" Shaped coil that works for my era. He apparently had many talks with Ed to confirm his coil worked with Ed's ignition. Coil has been on the bike for two years, so far bullet proof.
Cool, thanks. I'll keep Jeff's info. I anticipate that the 3 ohm coil I've ordered will work great with Ed's ignition (thanks again for that tip; I'm saving $200 over the Rawhide unit, and many hours of work rolling my own in the alternative). I asked about your earlier model coil because I'm looking at an old friend's '38 flathead. He lives in El Cajon, CA, so I'd likely be trailering it back here to NM. I think it'd be fun to have a flathead in addition to my hybrid pan-shovel.
So, got Ed's kit in the mail, and yes, it's very complete and was dead simple to install on my aftermarket auto-advance distributor (took about 10 minutes, not including routing the wires and swapping out the 5 ohm coil for a 3 ohm version).
However, it's worth noting that the guts are a 12V negative ground Pertronix ignition module like those I have on my '67 MG Midget (converted from positive ground) and '63 Caddy, and which works for a bazillion other 12V (and many 6V) distributor-fired ignitions. (Just google Pertronix ignition modules and you'll see similar shapes, mounting ears, and manufacturer lot numbers.). So, heaven forbid Ed passes from this earth, it's easy to replace the module.
What's unique to Ed's kit is the magnetic rotor, whose inner profile matches that of the asymmetrical Harley points cam, and a little copper ring you drop onto the shaft that lifts the rotor up to match the height of the sensor. Ed has also made nice aluminum mounting and adjustment plates that work well (less finicky to adjust than points)--and he includes a handy cardboard gap gauge that I threw into my onboard tool kit, in case the nuts ever vibrate loose. Though, now that I think about it, a little blue loctite on the nuts would probably make this a 'set it and forget it forever' proposition...
Worth $225 including shipping? Absolutely. One could save a lot of money using the cheap sensor at the start of this thread, but making up the reluctor--or rotor--would take many hours of work.
Reliable? People bad-mouth Pertronix ignitors, but I have run my '67 Midget and '63 Caddy Couple de Ville for years without a hiccup, the latter back and forth from San Diego to Albuquerque repeatedly when gas was affordable. I've only replaced one module in many years. But it's especially nice to have Ed willing to replace the modules, should they ever fail. I believe the Pertronix warranty is for 90 days.
All in all a great deal, highly recommended.
Last edited by NM Pan-shovel; Jun 3, 2022 at 06:11 PM.
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