retrofitting battery ignition distributor onto old Mercury magneto distributor drive?

I've had this thought for a while.. Everything in the KD-1 magneto is NLA and all pretty expensive used.. I had an idea a while ago and talked with a machinst I know at that time about putting the distributor head from a marine I/O engine like a 3.0L Merc and lock the timing with screws thru the weights. He told me at that time that he could machine the parts to fit, weld the shafts togther and then turn it. What we couldn't determin is if, the 3.0L distributor cap terminal spacing vs original terminal spacing would make much difference, if at all..

Anyone have an idea if this would work? I know that it would need another ignition switch and some wiring, and a coil hidden under the cover but I think that a coil will fit in the lower cowl at the front.. I have a spare magneto drive, and would only need a stripped magneto housing to get the parts needed to make it work.. OB is a 1964 650. S/N starts with 167

Re: retrofitting battery ignition distributor onto old Mercury magneto distributor dr

The spacing wouldnt make any difference . 90 degrees is still 90 degrees if its on a 4 inch center or a 3 inch center.

If you really got bored you could place evenly spaced magnets around the flywheel and use those for triggers on a hall effect pickup to trigger a MSD box. Only problem is that there would be way to advance the tming unless you ran through something like a programmable MSD advance module. Anything is do-able with enough funding.

Re: retrofitting battery ignition distributor onto old Mercury magneto distributor dr

Why add complexity? The magneto is a simple, reliable system. If you're willing to look, parts really aren't that hard to find. You can generally find whole magnetos for less than the cost of parts alone. Check eBay, AOMCI.org, etc...

Re: retrofitting battery ignition distributor onto old Mercury magneto distributor dr

I actually have a spare complete magneto assembly w/ drive ( hence why I have an extra drive ) and an Extra set of new points, so I'm actually pretty well set to run the mag. I just thought if I could get something togther with parts available, it would be good in the long run, even if I only put it together to have on hand.

Re: retrofitting battery ignition distributor onto old Mercury magneto distributor dr

I figured that `64 would have a 4-D mag. As far as the 3.0 setup,the terminal spacing should be the same, they are both 90 degrees apart. You may have trouble because most all 3.0 will have a mechanical advance which would have to be disabled. I think you might be better off getting that mag back in shape.

Re: retrofitting battery ignition distributor onto old Mercury magneto distributor dr

Yea, I was thinking backwards it is a 4-D mag.. I fully well intend to get it back into shape. Have all the parts except fuel pump diaphragms to fire it up actually and I've just kinda been lagging on getting them.. Simple #6 or simmilar sheet metal screw thru the advance mech will lock it out.. I'm just thinking for when parts are not available all together, which could be any time really. I could keep it going. I know some have successfully converted them to ADI, but a distributor setup would be less involved I think. At least in the sense that once the distributor is put together, it just needs to be bolted to the block, few wires run and go.

Re: retrofitting battery ignition distributor onto old Mercury magneto distributor dr

I machined a distributor from a billet when i was in college for my volkswagen and used a Pontiac pickup and amplifier . Worked great.

Don't be afraid to do whatever you want with your stuff.

Re: retrofitting battery ignition distributor onto old Mercury magneto distributor dr

Why not just retrofit a Lightning Energizer ignition system from a later model 50hp? I wouldn't think there would be any problem with fitment, since the older 50 hp 4-cyl's used the same magneto as your '64 65hp.

You'd have to find a place to mount the switchbox and coil, but I expect that would be do-able.

Just a thought.........ed

Re: retrofitting battery ignition distributor onto old Mercury magneto distributor dr

That was my first thought, because '67-'70 650 4 cylinders ran the Thunderbolt lightning energizer and the parts will work. Once I tried looking up common parts like distributor caps ect, the prices are basically the same as the 4-D Mag and mostly NLA just the same

Re: retrofitting battery ignition distributor onto old Mercury magneto distributor dr

Since you have two mags, why do a retrofit distributor? Magneto ignitions work well, are compact and you have the spare parts so NLA isn't a real problem. Also they are really reliable. Newer isn't always better.