A Very Nice CD Ignition Converter for a Great Price!

[Gerald Morris]

I did it, and preliminary tests promise excellent results! I scored a BRAND NEW, 1975, Micronta 22-1620 CD ignition box, all made in Ye Auld Republic of these here Yoonited States, sans ugly UPC barcode. Ecce:

Note the old style slotted head screws included in the ditty bag meant to secure the box to the car's sheetmetal.

The unit installed painlessly, and worked nicely on initial trial. I ran the engine both in the new capacitive discharge ignition mode, and in the old standby inductive discharge, which can easily be switched by a sturdy red button on the side of the box, just visible above.

The passenger side of the radiator yoke proved as the most convenient space to secure the box to, just under the after market overflow bottle I installed last Fall. The harness easily slid into the 3/8" flex tube for protection, and proved to be a perfect length for convenience and electric/mechanically secure termination, visible below:

Nice old Bakelite terminal screws with the little boards, eh?

The sole fly in the lube proves to be my tachometer. I will try attaching it to the + terminal on the coil, as the manual specifies. My tach works fine in conventional mode, but apparently doesn't get enough current in CD mode at the old negative terminal.

I'll let you all know how it does tomorrow, after a drive I must now take with my eldest spawn. Pediatric call....

STAY TUNED!

 

[Turboomni]

Looks just like the Heathkit version I built in the day.

 

[Gerald Morris]

Friday night, 20:15. Gertrude DEFINITELY runs with more SNAP! I'll see to that tach tomorrow, and gap some plugs out to 0.040" as recommended. IDK if I want to stretch out my nice Bosch platinum plugs or not. Might just try it on some of my old Champion J12YCs. I don't have any J11Ys anymore. Hmm, maybe I WILL stretch the Bosch's. Plenty of those still to be found, and not too pricey yet either. I like the way these run with that engine too. Regardless of gap, I'm making these Ault Deutschland Bosch platinum plugs my default plug.

 

[Gerald Morris]

Looks just like the Heathkit version I built in the day.


View attachment 619879

Sure, Heathkit and Radio Shark often sold stuff made by the same vendors. You're like me; you like your breaker point ignitions. This is as close to "electronic ignition" as I'll permit my rides to get. I ALWAYS want the simple, rugged, reliability of the old Kettering ignition for anything I drive. I admit my '83 D150 runs an after market Hall Effect Mopar clone ignition I bought off Rick-O, and I must KEEP THAT to keep that truck on the road in this town, but I normally don't shop for stuff made after 1968.

 

[Gerald Morris]

Looks just like the Heathkit version I built in the day.

Further update FYI: The original unit was made by a company in Colorado called Delta

What we got from Heathkit and RadioShark were just rebranded kits of this exact product. I'm tickled to see a 1968 in this original version; making it Oh So Appropos to my '68 Chrysler!

It works nicely enough too, esp for the $. I found in my research on these that this Radio Shark repackaged model actually is a Delta Mark 10B, which is the one with the selector switch. I suspect my box was packaged in 1974-5, given some details in the install manual, but its otherwise identical with the box shown above.