Hi, There are lots of UK VW engined planes flying around on Lucas SR4 magneto ignition sets taken from 1950's era farm tractors
They produce an acceptable spark, and are very reliable but. They are absolute hopeless at low revs, I have many times abandoned flying for the day when my arm has got too sore from prop swinging. At low revs the voltage they produce is directly proportional to the speed that the engine is turned. Give me a clackety Bendix setup, those things produce a big fat spark when turned even slowly as low sparc is produced by a spring loaded coil, in fact the only reason to use any force when swinging a Bendix sparked engine is to make sure your hand is out of the arc when the next blade comes through.. The only problem with the Bendix set up is price, and the need for special castings to mate them to a VW crank case. If you want a VW ignition and are starting from scratch, go for a Leburg electronic system, It needs one or preferably two small 12v motorcycle batteries, and an alternator, and uses a hall effect magnetic pickup. The total installed cost is around $1300 - not cheap but unbeatable reliability. Pete Colin Rainey wrote: > The old lawnmower ignition is called "magneto" > ignition. > >
