....one of the things I really enjoy about these builds is the learning curve and knowledge gained in the process.....whilst I may be useless with my hands I do like a bit of research ....
....in the early days of this build I was chatting with a fellow German enthusiast who pointed me in the direction of a CDI box for sale on German Ebay.....I didn't appreciate the significance at the time but if my far more knowledgable friend said it was worth having I figured I'd better try to buy it.....the item had been painted black which no doubt deterred many, I put in a cheeky bid and subsequently won the item for the princely sum of €21...
....it may not have looked too pretty to start but with a quick wipe of thinners all was well...
....it was only recently when searching for a second 8-pin CDI that I realised how rare these items are and with asking prices nudging €1,000, the extent of my previous good fortune!...cheers Uli
Whilst the 3.0RS featured a regular CDI box the twin-plug RSR engine came equipped with dual 8-pin Bosch units from the race department....
.....the 8-pin boxes differed in that they worked with a breakerless distributor, the trigger being a magnetic reluctor wheel however the main advantage was the regulated power supply which provided constant primary voltage and a more consistent spark which didn't tail off with RPM rise and voltage drop as with 3 and 6-pin boxes. A superior unit for racing.
The race department took stanard boxes and modified them with the part number machined off and replaced with a racing part number starting with a B....
....most, although not all, RSR's seen today are fitted with units equipped with an adjustable rev limiter...
....my boxes are likely to have the internals removed as we'll use modern electronics however I will replicate the race number and fabricate the rev limiter and stickers to add a bit of period detail....
....I also did pretty well when sourcing my second CDI box....
....and looking forward to the day my engine bay looks like this ....
....