Alternative pickups for Kz mechanical-advance ignitions.

Thanks for the update.

On that 500 ohm pickup, if the base is made of aluminum, it may actually be a Hall-effect sensor. I should have mentioned, if the base is non-magnet, it is more likely a hall sensor.

A variable-reluctance pickup will usually have a steel base in order to transfer magnetism to the timing plate etc.

But 500 ohms did sound promising.

loudhvx wrote: Thanks for the update.

On that 500 ohm pickup, if the base is made of aluminum, it may actually be a Hall-effect sensor. I should have mentioned, if the base is non-magnet, it is more likely a hall sensor.

A variable-reluctance pickup will usually have a steel base in order to transfer magnetism to the timing plate etc.

But 500 ohms did sound promising.

500ohms sure did. Thanks for the tip, that’ll be handy. I’m still web hunting for more sensors. I’ve got somewhat of a small mental list of candidates that I need to find specs for their pickups. Been trying to keep it to twins and 4s.

Just thought of this, since I’m still using my rotor, it wouldn’t matter if a pu was found from a single cylinder motor right? I know it was mentioned to use/find one with the pole shaped like stock to keep the signal wave as close as possible. Aside from it just not working, is it possible to use one with a round pole? Will it make the ignitor module go poof? Is it possible for you to set one up on your test rig if you had a round pole laying around?
I’ve found it more difficult to find a pu with the vertical pole yet alone with 350+ ohms. The round poles seem to be in abundance.

The pickup can be from any kind of motor as long as it is a simple coil with a simple north/south magnet running through it (or magnetism directed through it by a piece of steel).

I think a round pole will affect the timing by making it less precise. The electronic-advance models take advantage of this by using the signal variance to control the timing. We really don't want that in a mechanical-advance system. The only real danger is if the advance gets too advanced at higher RPM, but it may well be that the timing will actually be delayed.

I do have a Zx round pole pickup I could try, but it will take some fabrication to pair it with a Kz rotor and hookup a strobe timing light to see how the timing changes with RPM.

If you find a round-pole pickup, and the round pole is just a piece of steel, and not the actual magnet, you could maybe grind the pole into a vertical line. Sounds messy, though.

Have you tried the Mopar pickup?

Thanks for all you’ve done Lou, I wouldn’t even worry about mounting the Zx pu. I did order the mopar pu on sat. Waiting on shipping info. The yuasa battery I had is done. I topped off the cells with dw and it charged but doesn’t dish out the amps. I’ll probably go pick up an atv battery from wally world later today. I don’t wanna kill my antigrav.

Alright, mopar pu should be here today at some point. I also acquired a 4p hei unit from a “Domesticated” buddy of mine. haha. Loudhvx, I haven’t completely read enough to understand the procedure to incorporate the HEI into a twin. My first assumption is that I’ll be removing the stock ig module and wire the HEI in its place? But rather than guessing, I’ll go back and find the write up you did on it. Now one thing my buddy mentioned is that it’ll be ideal to mount a heat sink of some sort onto the metal side of the hei. If that’s the case then awesome, I’ll finally get to use the small end mill bits I’ve had for the past year. I even have some artic silver t. paste.

The way it's designed to work with the Kz, it doesn't need much heat sink. It probably doesn't need heat past. I just mount it to an aluminum plate. It barely gets warm.
The problem is getting the correct type of 4-pin module. They are getting harder to find. The page below has a link to how to tell which type you have.

Scroll down for the twins version is near the bottom of this page.
s3.amazonaws.com/gpzweb/Ignition/GPZgmHEImod.html

I'll have to test the polarity of the dodge pickups I have to know which wire goes where. The test I did earlier was with using the Kz magnets. The polarity could be different when using the Dodge magnet assembly. I'll try to do that later today.

I have two Chrysler/Dodge/Mopar pickups and they both have the same polarity.
The side of the magnet that gets bolted to the timing plate is south.
The side of the magnet that goes through the pickup is north.
The black wire gives positive signal when metal approaches the pickup pole.
The orange/red wire gives negative signal when metal approaches the pickup pole.

That means, for our purposes, black is the positive wire and orange/red is the negative wire.

That means the Dodge pickup's black wire goes in place of the Kz pickup's black wire.
Also, the Dodge pickup's orange/red wire goes in place of the Kz pickup's blue wire.

On inline-four Kz's,
that means the Dodge pickup's black wire goes in place of the Kz pickup's yellow wire.
Also, the Dodge pickup's orange/red wire goes in place of the Kz pickup's red wire.

loudhvx wrote: The way it's designed to work with the Kz, it doesn't need much heat sink. It probably doesn't need heat past. I just mount it to an aluminum plate. It barely gets warm.
The problem is getting the correct type of 4-pin module. They are getting harder to find. The page below has a link to how to tell which type you have.

Scroll down for the twins version is near the bottom of this page.
s3.amazonaws.com/gpzweb/Ignition/GPZgmHEImod.html

I'll have to test the polarity of the dodge pickups I have to know which wire goes where. The test I did earlier was with using the Kz magnets. The polarity could be different when using the Dodge magnet assembly. I'll try to do that later today.

Lmao..Man I can see how some people may have given up quickly after starting their hunt for an easy replacement. There is so many variables, decisions on what to utilize or replace, ease of replacing..etc etc.
I’m gonna have to do the ohm/voltage test on the hei I have. The numbers that are engraved don’t match any you have listed in your identification write up.

I'm working on a substitute for the 4-pin module. The 7-pin modules work well for the points driven version and so far the 7-pin modules work pretty uniformly across multiple manufacturers. The 7-pin is not as well suited for being driven by pickups directly though so I have testing to do.

I'm eventually going to develop circuits using discrete parts since they conform to datasheets, but the parts count tends to be higher and it scares many first-timers.

Loudhvx. I have a 1979-80 kz1000 breaker plate and pickups. Would you want to test it... if it would help your research I’d be willing to ship it off...

While doing my daily search for pickups..came across this on eBay..anyone wanna go in on it?? (Lol...just kidding. but if you did PM me. )


Edit: I’m not great at hyperlinking anything unless it’s a combo on killer instinct.

Mikaw wrote: Loudhvx. I have a 1979-80 kz1000 breaker plate and pickups. Would you want to test it... if it would help your research I’d be willing to ship it off...

Thanks for the offer Mikaw. I actually bought one for testing a few years ago.