Another E-Failure
 

So today the second car in a short period with ignition malfunction came in the door.
After a short inspection the E-fire unit is toast.
The company that sold it supplied cloth covered coppercore wires with resistor ends...not a very good mix.
And of course the customer was sold an ultra super high effiency coil...not needed for the car...
Looking at the distributor i could feel the shaft in it was loose and wobbled all over the place...interesting...unit has to come apart for checking.
What a surprise to see how badly it is built...the only bushing is loose as in a worn out unit..with a springwasher holding it togetter.
A regular crab has 2 bushings making it an exact unit..and metal in the centrifugal parts.
For anyone thinking of buying one...DON`T...get the original crab rebuilt.
If you need electronic ignition convert a unit.
This Stromberg E-Fire units are cheap crap...sadly sold under an old name we think are good.

Re: Another E-Failure
 

Murre, Thanks for the report. I personally have no interest in these things, in my opinion, a crab is the best flathead dissy out there; at least it has a vacuum brake, which the Strombergs don't. However, I seem to recall at least one member on here asking about Stromberg E-fire units after they came out, and as I recall, no-one had any experience with them at that time.

Re: Another E-Failure
 

Oh dear... not good if this is what we can expect , seems to be the norm these days.. Touch wood , Ive been lucky with my [all different] electronic ignition stuff , never an issue..

Re: Another E-Failure
 

Most poignant statement is pic #2.:mad: :mad:

It is such that, they make you for a Stooge.

Re: Another E-Failure
 

While we always welcome feedback from our customers, it won’t surprise many people to hear that Stromberg as a company disagrees with any suggestion that our e-FIRE distributors are ‘cheap crap’, especially as we know what they cost to produce and the care our guys take to build and test every single one that leaves the shop.

We now have nearly 1000 e-FIRE units working well for flathead owners all over the world, including our own hot rods with over two years road testing. We get positive feedback every day from happy customers and many flathead specialists - like H&H Flatheads to name just one – use e-FIRE units on pretty much everything they build. You can check our Youtube channel for Mike’s unsolicited opinion.

As with any new product, we did find things early on that we needed to improve. One was to add a clip inside to stop the wires being pulled too hard and rubbing on the drive shaft. We are also making constant improvements along the way, including a recent investment in new tooling to correct-size the oilite bushes to the drive shaft dimension to reduce movement to an absolute minimum. Once bolted on, our drive shafts have very little lateral movement. The ‘spring washer’ referred to above is actually a specially specified wave washer with two hardened thrust washers, designed to take up any tolerance and movement between the end of the cam and the distributor drive. The mechanical advance unit is separate of course, with added clearance built-in. Our electronic ignition is nowhere near as sensitive to movement as a points system and the module is pretty tolerant to movements in the air gap.

The stock Ford crab distributor is indeed an excellent product. And because of the vacuum brake, it benefits from just one shaft from top to bottom with bushes both ends. Modern distributors however, need different advance systems. I cannot think of one with a vacuum brake system. This means a separate mechanical advance unit on top of (separate to) the main drive, making a top bush impractical.

Stromberg warrants every product it sells for 12 months. We have never been notified of this particular failure, neither directly nor through the selling dealer (the correct channel). We take warranty issues very seriously and look forward to hearing how this particular unit became ‘toast’.

Re: Another E-Failure
 

I know of several E_fires fitted to friends cars and they all, without exception , praise them.

Re: Another E-Failure
 

I agree seeing these units with Stromberg-97 that they have so far been a good product.

However the issues i have seen were mentioned in the first post :

And of course the customer was sold an ultra super high effiency coil...not needed for the car...t

This is the main concern with most electronic ignition systems offered today the maker offers the "super coils" often lower resistance causing failure .....Often the tech line guy isnt in tune with the specs needed!!!!

Thats why we now ( and have for some time) included the correct coil with our conversions. Even then the customer often elects to use another coil!!!

Re: Another E-Failure
 

I can´t think of a modern distributor that is supported by a single bushing...especially when no support at the drive end.
You either have 2 bushings/bearings or a solid support in the drive end.
Anyone with a unit at hand grab the rotor and check how far it wobbles.
After that come back and say it´s a well engineered product...back to the drawingboard and get it built with a bearing...then maybe...
On the unit i had here the rotor could hit the cap...

Re: Another E-Failure
 

Well i have a strange failure with my E-fire, cylinder 1 is dead from the beginning 1 and 4 was dead, 4 suddenly start function but no spark on 1. I have changed wire, sparkplug, tested if there is connection in the cap (there is). I ordered a new module and cap, but im not so shure that is the problem, anyone has some ideas? And warranty how does it work, the company i bought from is closed due to sickness, dont know if they will open again so i had to order the module from another company and pay for it...:mad:

Re: Another E-Failure
 

Contact Stromberg directly and see what they say.

https://www.stromberg-97.com/information/contact-us/

Re: Another E-Failure
 

I have sent them mail :)

Re: Another E-Failure
 

murre, The Stromberg e-Fire manual states that copper or solid core high tension leads should not be used yet the unit you have removed from a customers car has wire leads. Also important that the primary resistance of the ignition coil be not less than 1.5 ohms. What is the resistance of the HOT coil used in that set up ? Very important that the e-fire unit is set up exactly as the book outlines. Near enough is not good enough and can lead to failures very quickly. All ground cables in the car must be spot on as well. The 6 volt positive ground unit is wired a little differently to the 12 volt unit. Regards, Kevin.

Re: Another E-Failure
 

Today i mounted the original distributor and the car works fine so there is something wrong with the E-fire, i also tested a new module but exactly the same problem. Stromberg has a very good tech support they want me to send back the unit so they can check what the problem is, that is really nice. It will be interesting to know what the problem is, no spark on 1 and 4 cylinder when i move the trigger the failure also moves to two other cylinders so probably the trigger is the problem, to be continued...

Re: Another E-Failure
 

Be interesting to follow.

Re: Another E-Failure
 

Hy Talkwrench. We use the expression "Knock on wood" up here on the top side. Y'all (Southern U S for you all) have sore or weak knuckles "down under", do you? LOL

Re: Another E-Failure
 

Finally my E-Fire works, i sent it back to Stromberg and they did a good job to make it function properly, i had an old version and they upgraded it to the latest version. Another problem was the coil, i misunderstood the manual and bought a coil with the resistance 3,0 Ohm, it should be 1,5 Ohm. 3,0 Ohm made the ignition to missfire at high rpm,1,5 Ohm solved that problem. Thank tou Clive at Stromberg for all help and very professional knowledge.

Re: Another E-Failure
 

Sounds like the unit was released for the public to field test it.

Re: Another E-Failure
 

Not fair. Most every product goes out the door before every real world glitch is worked out or revised! Even the Ford cars this product was designed for.

Re: Another E-Failure
 

At our shop we have removed many after market ignition systems that either stopped working, or began to fail. The usual cause was the poorly regulated voltage from the generator in early vehicles, coupled with heat sensitivity. One of the most reliable parts of old Fords is the stock dual point distributor. and unless you are racing, is reliable and durable.

Re: Another E-Failure
 

Yes i agree, the original distributor is good, so i have it with me in the trunk just in case.:)