I want to replace the points on my 71 hilux to electronic ignition. Does anyone have experience doing this and are the results worth the money?

I have a ford 300 engine I use for irrigation and it was giving me fits last year. I replaced the points with an electronic ignition and it as never ran better.

The reason for wanting to switch them is so the engine will run good for longer periods. It seems that after a year or two I have to replace the points and make adjustments until it runs well. It has been running great but as of late it has been running rough, pops in the exhaust, backfire and loss of power. I have a feeling the timing chain needs to be replaced soon.

Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks.

 

I've never made the switch from points to electronic ignition (come to think of it, I've never had a car with points) but I did take the guts out of a 20R distributor and put it into an 18RG distributor. I did the switch because the electronic pickup and the connectors on the 18RG were different and I needed the ignition to match the one in my USDM Celica. The 18RG distributor is essentially (there is a difference in external mounting tabs but internally, the same) the same as an 18RC distributor. I don't know about the 8R-C distributor though, unfortunately. Then all you would need is the ignitor assembly for whatever distributor you pirated the parts from.

Or, you can go aftermarket with a Pertronix kit, too.

 

I ordered an electronic distributor for a 12r motor.

I had to do two things to get it to work.

1.) swap the gears. The 12r has gears cut in reverse of the 8rc/18rc. You'll need a press as Toyota likes to press a solid pin into the gear instead of using spring/roll pins. This proved to be a pain but in the end, I used a roll pin and was victorious.

2.) find something to hold the distributor down. The 8rc/18rc has a small lip cast into the housing that is held down with a simple fork style clamp. The 12r distributor has no such lip. I used a 30mm clamp on the distributor to create a "lip" that the original fork style clamp can put pressure on.

Hope that helps anyone who might be looking for info.

 

DUI makes complete new distributors for most engines. They use OTC HEI replacement parts. Does away with the coil, ignitor and original distributor.
They are expensive, but each one is custom made for your application. A DUI for my 20R runs about $350.00

 

That's pretty cool! Simplifying is always better. I only went with my option as it was relatively inexpensive.

Before the electronic distributor, I was triggering the ignition with a combo of original points and a Ford TFI module. Removing the condenser on the distributor allows the original points to signal the module (which in turn signals the coil) without the current running through them. It allows them to last forever. It's rudimentary but it worked. Plus, modules are a relatively easy junk yard find.