South Florida Jaguar Club - Series 3 E-type ignition upgrade

Series 3 E type ignition upgrade
contributed by Pascal Gademer

After getting my 1972 E-type ( V12, series 3 ) I decided to upgrade some of the systems to get the best reliability as possible. I enjoy driving it too much to leave it in garage and use it only once a week so it has to be reliable. Not being interested in concours and originality gives me some freedom in the engine compartment and the first system I upgraded was the ignition. I just couldn't trust the old system especially the amplifier cooking between cylinder banks, tucked in behind the A/C compressor !

After looking around I decided to install the following components, recommended by Dan Mooney of Classic Jaguar, in Austin TX:

MSD series 6 ignition module
MSD Blaster Coil
Tach adapter
Crane Cams XR700 optical trigger
Crane Cams 8.5 Firewire set
Autolite 65 spark plugs gapped at 0.05

Installation was pretty easy and took me about 4 hours ( I'm not a pro... )

For best ventilation, I decided to mount the coil and tach adapter on the firewall (just above the battery and voltage regulator), and the MSD module to the engine frame just over the battery (clamped and using a piece of rubber to protect the frame).

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After mounting the hardware, I changed the plugs and wires and then went on to open the distributor. Once the cover is off, a few cranks to align the timing marks and then remove the snapring, washer and timing rotor.

Then I had some doubts about the pickup arm which looked really cooked and ready to crumble but was able to remove it with no damage. I then discovered that the screws holding the old pick module on the base plate were loose because the plastic was old. Since the new metal bracket is held by only one screw, it has to be tight and there was no way that a single screw would have held. Luckily I found a bolt small enough to fit after enlarging the hole just a little bit and the new optical pick up was secured. You may want to order a new pickup arm if available when ordering the other components.

Adjusting it right is kind of hard because the new V12 shutter is big and leaves little clearance. I carefully center the optical pick up in the middle of the shutter opening and tightened the adjusting screw in place. Then I went on to refit the washer, rotor and distributor, forgetting the snapring that holds the shutter until after testing the new set up when I was putting all the tools away... ( having to unplug and reconnect all 12 wires was the price I paid for that mistake ! ).

Refit all 12 wires in right the place and then on to connect the new components together.

To avoid going to deep into the wiring harness, I cut the old connector going into the ballast resistor and connected the wires from that connector back to the new modules. I actually used a double wire that came with the MSD and not needed for this type of application and routed it near the distributor where it was harnessed with the wire from the Optical pick up and on to the new modules. See diagram below for connections info :

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Once everything was plugged in, it was time for the moment of truth... and luckily the engine started instantly ! Smooth idle ( a little higher than before ) and a quick test drive showed that everything was working fine. The only problem I discovered afterward was a problem shutting off the engine, as it would take a few seconds for the engine to shut down when the key was switched off. It took a few phone calls to solve this as at first the diode supplied with the kit didn't help. Apparently I didn't put it in the right location and once I placed it by the voltage regulator on the wire that goes to the ignition light, the problem disapeared.

I now have about 9000 miles on the new system and it's working great, no problems, just a reliable ignition system. Total cost for parts was about $ 500, well worth it for peace of mind and reliability.

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