Classic Retrofit CDI+: very happy customer

[elfenbein]

I've been reading about the CDI+ unit for some time now, and was getting excited at the prospect of improving the ignition on the 1969 911S that I have owned for 27 years.
The car has been running well lately, and I have always loved driving it, but I have to say that the 160 mile round trip I made a day after it was fitted is possibly the most enjoyable I have ever had in a total of 98,000 miles. The CDI+ just makes my engine sing! It is more tractable, feels more powerful and seems to run more smoothly. I have yet to have it properly dialled-in with a laptop on a rolling road, but it has already made an amazing difference. Nearly all of the mid-range 'fluffiness' has gone already, and it doesn't seem to matter anyway as the car pulls so much better. Perhaps owners of 'torque-lite' 2litre cars will feel it the most, but I'm sure that any car will be improved by the CDI+. Mine felt better even before it was retimed at 6000rpm when I took it out to warm the engine up. This was before the timing was found to be retarded by 14 degrees.

Every owner of a suitable 911 should seriously consider this unit. Just as we all know how great SSI heat exchangers are, I believe that we will come to consider the CDI+ to be just as essential an upgrade.

I hope this feedback is helpful to those considering buying it.

Chris

[moito]

I've been reading about the CDI+ unit for some time now, and was getting excited at the prospect of improving the ignition on the 1969 911S that I have owned for 27 years.
The car has been running well lately, and I have always loved driving it, but I have to say that the 160 mile round trip I made a day after it was fitted is possibly the most enjoyable I have ever had in a total of 98,000 miles. The CDI+ just makes my engine sing! It is more tractable, feels more powerful and seems to run more smoothly. I have yet to have it properly dialled-in with a laptop on a rolling road, but it has already made an amazing difference. Nearly all of the mid-range 'fluffiness' has gone already, and it doesn't seem to matter anyway as the car pulls so much better. Perhaps owners of 'torque-lite' 2litre cars will feel it the most, but I'm sure that any car will be improved by the CDI+. Mine felt better even before it was retimed at 6000rpm when I took it out to warm the engine up. This was before the timing was found to be retarded by 14 degrees.

Every owner of a suitable 911 should seriously consider this unit. Just as we all know how great SSI heat exchangers are, I believe that we will come to consider the CDI+ to be just as essential an upgrade.

I hope this feedback is helpful to those considering buying it.

Chris

any affiliation to the seller?

[elfenbein]

None whatsoever, but it must sound like it, as I'm so pleased with the product!

Chris

[BOYER73S]

Who is the seller?

[haul]

http://www.classicretrofit.com/about.html

?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...-ignition.html

[Jonny Retrofit]

Hi,

This is my first post on this forum as Chris said he'd put some feedback here about our new ignition unit which we're calling CDI+. So I thought I'd introduce myself, hope that's ok?

The story started 3 years ago with the restoration of my 911SC. I wanted a car I could use everyday, with every part either restored or replaced with new. I discovered the Bosch CDI box was a part that could only be repaired or replaced with aftermarket parts that were not a plug in replacement or had poor reviews.

My company designs real time control systems (aerospace/medical/industrial) so we used our knowledge and resources to develop a plug and play replacement unit. The emphasis being on quality and robustness. Our design addresses several shortfalls in the Bosch design ( lack of over voltage and short circuit protection for example). There is a technical manual on our website that describes all this so I'll spare the details.

We sent units out for evaluation with a few of the specialists here in the UK. Historika were the first to notice that the engine pickup and throttle response of their 2 litre race car was noticeably 'crisper'. A few rolling road sessions later and the performance gains kept coming. As the CDI+ has a fully mappable ignition curve, the cars were dialled in on the rollers. At the time, we put performance gains down to changing the advance map, but there's more....

We had five or six reports come back along the same lines as Chris's post above. More power, hesitation cured, smoother etc. On enquiry, these guys had not changed the timing yet. So what was happening?

A side effect of our electronics design, results in two sparks being generated instead of one. We can program the time between the sparks so that the second one occurs mid fuel burn but still well before TDC. This results in more fuel being burnt which produces more power. Well, that was the idea anyway!

Snake Oil!! We've all seen our fair share of 'wonder' products! Was this a fluke? Who are we kidding? How can we prove it?

Enter Neil Bainbridge, a highly respected UK 911 engine builder who just happens to have a fully balanced engine test cell. Neil had a freshly built 2.4T setup for back to back comparisons of CDI+ vs the Bosch unit. The full dyno report is on the CDI+ page of our website. The headlines are 5 to 10 ft-lbs increase of torque right up to 6200RPM.

That's all for now as its late here. Any questions, fire away!

Cheers,

Jonny

[DarthMJH]

http://www.classicretrofit.com/about.html

?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...-ignition.html

Correct, classic retrofit.

I am also a happy customer, again no affiliation.

You can see my feedback on DDK here. http://www.ddk-online.com/phpBB2/vie...hp?f=1&t=56178

Mike

[Sun888]

The standard CDI from Classicretrofit comes in at GBP 795 - more than double the price of a refurbished Partsklassik CDI, which is listed as USD 429.99.

I am sure a lot of effort has been put in the Classicretrofit pieces ... but would appreciate a robust explanation why I should spend twice as much on it if all I do is some spirited road driving. Don't get me wrong, I am not trolling or criticizing the price. Just trying to collect facts.

Thanks.

Marcus

(edits: corrected typos)

[elfenbein]

Hi Marcus,

I don't really know anything about the Parts Klassic CDI in relation to the Classic Retrofit CDI+. It may be equally good, and far cheaper. I am ignorant of the relative features of both. I just liked the idea of the Classic Retrofit item, and when my superb mechanic, Chris Turner, told me that the front fuse panel from CR is a work of art, my gut feeling was to go with them. Perhaps I was impulsive, but it really has transformed the driveability of my car. Your '70 and '73 cars are probably more driveable than my '69 was anyway, so you might never need or want to change the original CDI at all. If you get a chance to drive a car with either one fitted, that would be worth doing.

All the best,

Chris

[Sun888]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for getting back to me. Does sound interesting.

My 73S has the original CDI, the 70E an ancient permatune. I am planning to have the original CDI refurbished and want to replace the Permatune this summer. Hence reading up on the options there are. My main concern is reliability though. Improved driveability would be a bonus. But then... I've got nothing to complain in regards to that anyway.

I can see that the Classic Retrofit CDI offers more options than the Partsklassik version. But not sure I really need them. Double spark at all RPM?

Anyway. I'll continue to collect info. At the moment I think I'll end up with the Partsklassik piece.

Thanks again,

Marcus