18RG running pretty well!
The motor would run well when cold, but as soon as it warmed up, it would run absolutely awful. It would misfire constantly and stall at every stop. Once it stalled it would be impossible to restart. I deduced it was ignition related. I hate distributors. I had converted this one to electronic ignition with parts from a 22R electronic distributor, so I knew there were no problems with the points (because there were none). The coil was new (Autozone special) so that wasn't the problem. I changed all the wires with a known good pair and it didn’t change it. I still don’t know exactly what was causing it.
I bought an 18RG pulley with a 36-1 tooth wheel welded to it along with a VR sensor and sensor mount from my friend Stu many years ago. I ended up using the sensor on my 77 Corolla EFI conversion, and I lost the 18RG mount. :(
I just crushed the Corolla the EFI was in so I had the system sitting on the shelf. I decided to install the Megasquirt quickly just to control the ignition. When I convert the entire motor to EFI I’m going to use a Megasquirt MS3X and will have sequential injection and ignition. That will be different post though, and likely a winter project (because I’m DEFINITELY not driving it in winter any more!)
After I had it installed, the engine fire up immediately on the first crank! After cleaning up the install a little, (I put the Megasquirt at the passenger floor after pushing the wires through the grommet hole.
I pulled the factory distributor and plugged the 18RG dizzy hole.
I had to build a new VR sensor mount. Luckily it was very simple. Basically a bent piece with holes in it. 20 minutes and I had it ready. I need to make this gap a bit smaller, but it works for now. (The RPM signal will likely start to break up at higher RPM's with this big of a gap) It ran when I had all this just sitting up on top. But I couldn't drive it like that. I pulled off the fender to route the wires inside. You can see some of my other "amazing" wiring work from 5 years ago when I did a wire tuck. It all works. I modified these Megasquirt wiring diagrams to fit what I did with my harness. I drove it 10 miles today in a single drive and it didn't stall once! So I *think* it's ready to go to the car show tomorrow. :) I could only find one of my fender mirrors. The other has just disappeared. My son probably hid it somewhere. I'll show some more pictures later today. Anybody need an electronic 18RG distributor?