$.02 to many questions

[Terry Rust <trust@domain.elided>]

I'll throw my $.02 into the fray, remember the opinions may be worth less
than what you paid for them!
>
>1.  Electronic Ignition.
>I am looking to get better cold weather starts, more power, and maybe
>better fuel economy.   Does anybody have experience with the Jacobs
>systems.  Are they as good as the ads claim?  Is it a project that I
>can do myself (I have swapped engines and trannies before)?  Most
>important, is it California smog legal?
>
I have installed a Jacobs "Omni Pak" on my daughter's 800 with a 304, the
increase in mileage was significant as was the starting. Results were
somewhat less dramatic on my CJ5 with a 304 AMC. The hardest, most time
consuming aspect of the installation was figuring out where and how to
cleanly install the module. The actual hook up took about 5-10 minutes (I
didn't use the secondary trigger, but rather removed the stock coil
entirely.) and the re-gapping of the plugs took a few more. IMHO, the
biggest results will be seen on the older rigs, you get more improvement
from the baseline than over a more modern ignition system. I'm not sure if
they're CA legal, the company should be able to give you the exemption
number if they are.

>2. Fuel Injection
>Same desired results as electronic ignition.  Same questions.
>
I have the basic Holley setup on my CJ5 (also the Jacobs). The starting is
fully fixed, it just starts every time now, and idels, weird, it's never
done that with any of the carbs that have spent time on it. It works really
well, I have had some high speed problems but I think they were results of
a timing error, my timing light was AFU and so I over advanced the timing,
significantly. The holley system is very dependant on fuel pressure so be
sure to have a spare pump, I've heard that the replacements from holley are
short lived and expensive so I use a repacement for an 87 Ford PU with a
EFI 302, from autozone it's half what Holley wants and is reputed to be
much more durable, it is definitely larger and heavier. A friend has the
Holley 4Di system on a 360 Jeep truck, this thing is a tank, probably
1500-2000 lbs over original and he was able to get about 14 mpg on a trip
to Hole in the Rock and back, that's total for the trip including the dirt
portion. He was constantly tweaking it with his laptop though, but that's
his nature.

>With Electronic Ignition and Fuel Injection, would it make sense to
>do one or the other or would both be the best bet?
>
Seems to be a chicken and egg question to me, the EFI will cost
significantly more than the Jacobs, but the Jacobs won't help off camber
performance like the efi will. If I were doing only one or the other, I'ld
do the efi first, probably. Although on a budget i might opt for the Jacobs
to help cut operational costs while I save for the efi.

>3.  Winches.
>I am also considering a winch.  It would be used mostly for opps
>recovery.  Other uses would include log dragging and stump pulling.
>What kind of experiences have those who do the same had?

I've used Warn and Ramsey (both older models) both work well, the Warns
seem to have a faster no load line speed which is nice while cleaning up
and putting away but my Warn cost more than my Ramsey. I've had no failures
with either winch, but I don't abuse them and only use them occasionally.

Hope some of this is useful.