Or at least some sort of electronic ignition.

My car is a poor, poor example, having sat for 10-15 years, but I decided to throw in the old, used VW Pertronix I had sitting around in a dizzy from a parts car. It took about 15 min, and the difference was immediately noticeable - probably because the points were so old, but I know the electronic won't wear out and get worse.

it started right off, and even with the old plugs in, it idled much smoother and revved more cleanly. Pretty standard fare stuff for old cars, but still. To never have to worry about points again, (and it was free from my parts stash) and now I can throw on a real coil, it should make a nice improvement and reduce maintenance.

Petronics is a poor poor example of an upgraded ignition system. No offence but its a POS. I went through 2 of those in a very short period of time. I switched to Crane and it was excellent.

new to e21's - how hard is it to retrofit stock electronic fuel injection from an e30/M20?

EDIT: Question specifically directed at e21 323i with mechanical injection

Not sure on retroing later model stuff, but I have done other projects with EFI swaps. Time and patience, with some cash thrown in.

CJ, you are right about Pertronix being less than ideal, but the older ones seem to be made better, and have a lot less failures. I was just surprised at the immediate difference - I plan on going to a VW Knock sensor ignition before Megasquirt later. We'll see how those work out. And my points are still in the glovebox, just in case...

CJ, you are right about Pertronix being less than ideal, but the older ones seem to be made better, and have a lot less failures. I was just surprised at the immediate difference - I plan on going to a VW Knock sensor ignition before Megasquirt later. We'll see how those work out. And my points are still in the glovebox, just in case...

I've heard the older units are much better too.

The British car crowd has mixed opinions of Pertronics. cracked magnets, wrong polaritys, magnets falling out, etc. I've jonsed for one since 1992, and never heard an issue with BMW units until recently. Too bad. Low cost upgrade, but not if it has a 1-3yr operating life.
waferman