Nice one, Steve (...but where have you been, Mate?)
I used to be into vehicle systems myself back in my early days. Magnetos on tractors and motor-bikes, then relatively fancy stuff on Ferret scout cars (for example). Anyone else remember the carbon pile regulator?
I've always had an interest in engines, too. Motor-bike engines, especially (works of art) - but also Generator* Sets. Gardner, Meadows ... and now Caterpillar
et al. Plus aircraft piston engines, naturally.
I expect that quite a few folk had a go with "electronic ignition" back in the seventies. I recall that I ended up reverting my attempts on my Saab back to the original set-up (it worked fine again after that)! LOL.
Anything more for us on that one, Mate:- pictures, diagrams ... whatever?
You're oh so right about "needing a starting point", by the way. Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, and all that.
And I hear what you're saying regarding "could I repeat such nonsense these days?", too. When we were young, we tended to just jump straight in, crack on and have a go. Now (despite the odd "bright idea" coming to mind) there always seems to be more than a degree of hesitancy, coupled with a
zillion reasons not to proceed.
*
OK, here's another one from the scrapyard down Memory Lane:- anyone else remember the famous "Silent Generator" (a horizontally-opposed twin coupled to a 10 kVA set used with army field radar, and made by none other than Royal Enfield)?
