3.0 conversion to electronic ignition

[tacodads]

I have an "85 3.0 140 hp Mercruiser with standard points, rotor, condenser, cap. I was just reading about a conversion kit to electronic ignition w/o points. Anyone know about this kit and the difficulty installing it? Thanks

 

[stonyloam]

If you were reading here, probably the Petronix Ignitor II. Takes about an hour or so, need to replace the resistance wire with a piece of ( at least 14 ga stranded copper) wire. Part # 91146A Ignitor II And flamethrower II coil. 45111 (epoxy) or 45011 (oil) should work for you.

 

[thumpar]

What Terry posted. I did that exact thing on my 2.5l boat.

 

[Sangster21]

I can only comment on the Pertronix kit, installed on a mc165 I6, install was very straightforward. I had to do a bit of filing on my distributor to allow the trigger wires to pass, other than that no issues. So far the ignition has worked like a champ/

 

[Starcraft5834]

I bought a Mallory espark kit for my 1987 3.0 140. Installed it per directions. Engine ran terrible..put points plate back in it ran perfect.. sometimes if its not broke dont break it...

 

[fishrdan]

Look into the Delco EST for your 140HP, I'm running one on my 72' 140 and it works well. The kit is around $200, but you are getting a complete new ignition; distributor, cap, rotor, coil, ignition wires. (This is what Mercruiser and Volvo run in their 3.0L engines now.)

You will need to bypass the points reisistance wire so the EST gets a full 12V and then re-wire the shift interrupt switch to 12V (instead of ground).

The only thing I don't like about the EST is the timing curve, it's different than the old 140HP distributors,,, more initial timing and less total timing for the EST. That said, it's working fine for me.