Lynn Matteson
Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 2778
Location: Grass Lake, Michigan
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 Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 10:26 am Post subject: Electroair direct fire ignition system in a Jabiru 2200 |
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Here's the info on the Electroair direct fire ignition
(www.electroair.net) system that I installed on my Jabiru 2200 engine
in my Kitfox. First off, some history....why did I go with an after-
market ignition system instead of the stock Jabiru ignition?....I
thought there might be a better/more modern way to fire the plugs
than the old system, and I became tired of having to change rotors
after the recommended 200 hours of use. Also, I was reluctant
(stubborn) to glue the rotors on as recommended. After having found
that it was indeed necessary to glue them on, and having some success
using that method, I decided...during a rebuild of the engine...that
I would leave all the distributor components off when reassembling
the engine, and go with the Electroair direct fire system.
Electroair had begun development on a component to replace one of the
Jabiru distributors. This would retain the other distributor as the
other half of the redundant ignition system. I, being stubborn,
wanted to do away completely with the Jabiru ignition, and asked
Electroair if they would design a system that would use a trigger
wheel and two magnetic pickups, similar to their 6-cylinder engine
systems. They would do this, but I had to make my own bracket to hold
the two pickups, as they did not have access to a Jabiru engine for
designing the prototype bracket. I agreed to this and ordered the
ignition kit.
To make a long story short (and to create some drama for a possible
future magazine article), I got the system installed, and it is
working beautifully. There were some minor "growing pains" as we
sorted out some installation issues, but these are in the past, and I
am now flying with the assurance that I won't be bothered down the
road with loose rotors, loose distributor caps, leaking distributor
shaft seals, and scored shafts that I have experienced in the past.
The kit originally arrived weighing about 13 lbs, and by cutting the
harnesses and spark plug wires to a more suitable length for my
airplane, I got the weight down to about 11 lbs. I removed the Jabiru
distributors, drive gears, caps, rotors, coils, and plug wires,
totaling exactly 5 lbs. So the increase in weight for the Electroair
system was about 6 lbs...a small weight penalty for such a modern
dependable ignition system, and one that allows for future ignition
modifications as well, which I will be looking into.
Lynn Matteson
Kitfox IV Speedster
Jabiru 2200, 578hrs
Sensenich 62x46
flying again after rebuild, and new Electroair direct-fire ignition
system
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_________________
Lynn
Kitfox IV-Jabiru 2200
N369LM |
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