mercruiser distrbutor upgrade

[bonz69]

I have a merc 898 with points ignition. I would like to upgrade to electronic ignition. Accel makes an upgrade kit just changing guts under the cap. Its for automotive application and wonder if it will work for a marine application. I am unsure of the differences in the ignition between the two.

 

[greg82255]

Re: mercruiser distrbutor upgrade

I have a merc 898 with points ignition. I would like to upgrade to electronic ignition. Accel makes an upgrade kit just changing guts under the cap. Its for automotive application and wonder if it will work for a marine application. I am unsure of the differences in the ignition between the two.

The distributor is one of the parts that all experts say MUST be marine grade. Automotive parts inside a boat that are not ignition protected can cause sparks and ignite fumes in the bilge. Get a marine grade distributor. I just installed this one in my boat on the recommendation of Don S:

http://www.michiganmotorz.com/delco-voyager-marine-electronic-distributor-p-119.html

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: mercruiser distrbutor upgrade

I have a merc 898 with points ignition. I would like to upgrade to electronic ignition. Accel makes an upgrade kit just changing guts under the cap. Its for automotive application and wonder if it will work for a marine application. I am unsure of the differences in the ignition between the two.

Chances are that accel doesn't make a kit that will fit your distributor (I could be mistaken). Pertronix may make a kit that will work with your distributor. People on this board have used pertronix kits with mixed results. You can look at the make/part number for your distributor, and check out the Pertronix web site to see if they have a kit that will work with your application; http://www.pertronix.com/catalogs/pdf/ptx/2010/ptx2010_ignition_conv.pdf

Page 15 in that link is the start of the marine conversions.

Or like greg said, you could convert over to the newer style delco distributor which will give you a whole new distributor (as opposed to retrofitting an old worn out one), coil, cap, rotor, wires.

 

[Don S]

Re: mercruiser distrbutor upgrade

The big problem with those conversion kits, is that it still leaves you with the old mechanical advance, and in boats they tend to get rusty and the springs go away and they don't work anymore.
The EST distributor is all electronic, advance and all.