The PVL kit comes complete with everything you need to replace the stock ignition system..

1. eliminate the rev limit of the stock CDI - since serious power production comes with increased rpm, pitching the stock box is a must
2. have control over spark advance/retard - each engine configuration requires a slightly different ignition timing to optimize its performance; the ability to modify the spark timing over stock for a given engine can yield significant improvements
3. lower the rotational inertia of the crankshaft  - the lighter the rotating assembly is, the less power goes into accelerating the engine and more into accelerating the quad
4. better reliability over stock stator/coil/CDI - miniquad stators in particular are notorious for reliability issues
5. hotter spark - at more than 60,000 volts these systems put enough juice between the plug electrodes to allow you to all but forget about plug fouling and hard starts.

With these things in mind, the call went to Penton Imports of Ohio who is the exclusive distributor for the German company PVL (Probosch-Vogt-Loos GmbH). PVL has been around for over three decades and builds some of the most recognized and well respected aftermarket ignition systems available. In the case of miniquads, they offer systems for Kasea, Polaris, Eton and all the flavors in between, for 50  through 90cc type machines. Your typical kit runs in the neighborhood of $400.

Remove everything from the RH side of the engine down to the crankshaft. Make sure all mating surfaces are perfectly clean and burr-free..

The retrofit of a PVL system basically necessitates the replacement of the entire stock ignition system. This means that the stock coil, CDI box, stator, and flywheel are all relegated to another one of many little brown boxes collecting dust somewhere in your workshop. In place of these, PVL sells you a ready to go kit which includes new coil and wire, CDI box, pickup/stator, backing plate, and rotor (flywheel). They even toss in a rotor removal tool.

Step one requires that all the stock hardware mentioned above be removed and the aluminum PVL mounting plate be installed. Make sure the engine case mounting surfaces are perfectly flat with no gouges, burrs, or irregularities. When tightening the plate down, it must fit perfectly flat against the case. In our case, the oil injection blockoff plate needed to be relieved slightly to allow the plate to sit flush against the case.

With the rotor installed and the crank positioned at the spark point, the marks should line up perfectly (at 12:00 on this configuration).

Next, we install the stator near the midpoint of its slots and lightly tighten its mounting screws. It should be installed so that the open "U" shaped part of the stator is pointing at about the 7:00 position. This allows the wires to come out nicely through the hole in top of the case where the stock wires exited. You can even extract the case grommet from the stock stator and transplant it to the PVL wiring for a nearly water tight seal.

The tricky part to the whole process is setting the timing advance. This is done by inserting a dial indicator into the spark plug hole and setting in inches or mm how far below TDC the timing should be set. Because of the sensitivity of crank position to piston position near TDC (alot of degrees for a small piston movement), this procedure must be performed by dial indicator and not by a degree wheel and feel. The correct process requires that the indicator be zeroed at TDC, and then the crank be turned CCW until the appropriate measurement is obtained on the dial indicator. At that point, the rotor is installed on the crankshaft so that its timing mark lines up with the timing mark near the top of the stator (there are two, the top mark is the one to use). If the timing marks do not line up perfectly, a final adjustment can be made later by moving the stator plate. Lightly tap the rotor to seat it on the tapered crankshaft, and then torque the nut on the rotor.

A dial indicator inserted into the cylinder using a screw-in adaptor fitting is the correct way to set timing. To complete the installation, recheck that the timing marks line up at your desired dial indicator measurement, and adjust the alignment by turning the stator accordingly. Tighten it, and install the fan and shroud. Lastly, find a place to mount the CDI box using two screws. Wiring consists of connection of a tether/landyard to the red CDI wire, and ground to the black one. What timing to use? That's the magic question, and not an easy one since it depends on many variables. A safe starting point is to set it to stock timing, or even slightly retarded (closer to TDC). On a stock miniquad, the timing is about 20º BTDC, which translates to 0.060" on a 39.2mm crank (50-70cc machines) and 0.065" on a 45mm crank (90cc machines). If you don't know the connecting rod length you can estimate it at about twice the stroke. It doesn't need to be extremely accurate. As far as adjustments go, more timing advance may get you better low end grunt and better starts, while retarded timing tends to help high rev power such as long straightaways.

To calculate the dial indicator reading required to achieve a certain timing in degree BTDC, use this formula- stroke mm rod length (about 2x stroke) mm degrees BTDC ºBTDC inches from TDC inches

What's it all amount to? We ran the PVL system on a chassis dyno to dial in the spark timing.  Unfortunately, due to the amount of work required to swap systems, a direct same-day comparison to the stock system was not possible. However, we were able to estimate stock performance by adjusting the timing to the stock  20º setting. Additionally, 25º, 15º, and 10º were also tested in an effort to flesh out the optimum value.

The graphs above show distance versus time.  The test was ran as a 200 ft drag race simulation on a chassis dyno.  Performance data such as time, distance, and wheel power were recorded every 1/10 of second until the 200 ft point.  From the graphs you can see that they are all very close but that the "15º timing" run was quickest by about 0.5 second, which is huge when you consider that there are many 200 ft sections in a typical race lap, and many laps in a race. Do you need it? Only if the other guy is running it!

To contact Penton Imports, go to http://www.pentonimports.com or call them at 440-989-4474.