Electronic ignition for older Alfas

["Graham Hilder" <graham.hilder@domain.elided>]

Now my good friend and 105 fan Les from Wellington wrote  "Electronic =
ignition systems are a pain in the butt and no 105 series car should be =
subjected to them.The question is not how well they work, but rather, how =
long till that inevitable failure happens.  My experience: 100% FAILURE =
rate with points+CD, optoelectronic, reluctor/CD systems. In the end I =
gave up and went back to points/coil.  No electronics in car =3D 100% =
reliability. End of story."

Well in general I'd agree, about keeping clear of un-necessary electronics =
in cars, but if I recall correctly the points on the Alfetta and the GTV =
are a bit of a devil to get at, and really I'd like to try and get rid of =
avoidable routine maintenance items from my cars where it's reasonably =
easy to do so. Ditching those points seems like such a candidiate. As far =
as reliability goes, well I've had a swag of Suds for years and years and =
many many miles and never had an electronic ign fault or failure. These =
Bosch ignitions used in the Alfasud may in fact be the only reliable piece =
of electrical or electronic equipment any Alfa has ever had...!!!!=20

By the way it's only the maintenance reduction that's prompting me to =
think about the points removal for the GTV and Alfetta, and not any =
possible performance gain.  The latter would be a nice bonus but not one =
I'm counting on, for in my near-standard cars I suspect that the good ol' =
steam ignition is probably quite adequate. I once saw a test in some =
English performance-magazine which put 3 or 4 different pointless =
ignitions into 3 or 4 different test-cars (including a high-revving =
hotted-up Escort), and dyno'd all combos of cars and ign systems.  Most of =
them gave no or only very slight increase in HP or torque, on changing =
from points to any of the electronic. =20

Best regards,
Graham in NZ
(77 Alfetta, 71 GTV, 82-82-84 Alfasuds)

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